Space as a service
Space Tango is a full service solution to microgravity research that utilizes the unique environment of space to discover, design and commercialize solutions for applications on Earth.
Ugly produce. Delivered.
Imperfect Produce is a food subscription service that delivers "ugly" produce to your door for 30%-50% less than grocery store prices. Their mission is to fight food waste, support farmers and make it easy to eat healthy on a budget.
Creating dream teams
Teamable is a data-driven referral engine for identifying, engaging and hiring skilled talent smarter.
Cashless marketplace for services
Simbi is a peer-to-peer cashless marketplace bartering people’s talents. Powered by a native alt-currency, Simbi is made up of people looking to help one another by offering and receiving services.
Ethical personal fem care products (ACQUIRED - PROCTOR & GAMBLE FEB 2019)
L. is a next-gen personal fem care brand focused on personal health products that are naturally derived.
21st century last mile logistics.
Foxtrot helps distributors boost fleet efficiency & delivery success through their in-house route planning optimization algorithms and machine learning.
Online publishing platform for women
Mogul is an award-winning technology platform that enables women worldwide to share ideas, solicit advice, and access content based on their personal interests.
OS for personalized manufacturing
Standard Cyborg design studio is a modern platform for prosthetics, orthotics and braces. They enable brands to create 3D geometries for custom-fit products at scale.
PFM for millennials (EXIT - SECONDARY SALE JAN, 2021)
Albert provides simple, free financial advice and lets you take action directly within the app. This includes things like repaying credit card debt with a low-interest loan, or getting renter's insurance, or setting up the right retirement plan.
Dollar shave club for oral care
Quip is a subscription-based oral care platform for consumers. Quip is also designed specifically to simplify and automate compliance for patients which, in turn, will bring value to dentists and their practices.
Effective patient care management
Catalia Health is a robotics/AI health care company that aims to tailor conversations to patients in hopes to obtain hard-to-get data about treatment, challenges, and outcomes on a daily basis.
Private investigators on demand.
Trustify connects individuals and businesses with highly trained professionals that offer real-time observation and digital monitoring.
Connected platform for kids
Toymail is an IoT connected platform that entertains, educates, and keeps children connected to those they love, without putting them behind another screen.
Predictive graphical mobile messaging
Dango is an AI predictive engine that suggests meaningful, and apt, emojis for messages exchanged within a messaging app.
Warby Parker of Home Decor
Barn & Willow is a vertically integrated, custom home decor brand currently focused on window treatments, throw pillows and throws.
Evolution of Fantasy Sports
Boom Fantasy is an in-game fantasy sports product, pushing real-time predictions to users and allowing them to compete with others.
Grants for nonprofits and academics
Instrumentl provides one easy place for nonprofits & academics to find relevant grants as well as matches scientists to the best grants for their research.
A personal cloud computer; built for developers
Sixa is a full computer that operates direct from the cloud via a client app. It supports various devices and is capable of running the most demanding applications.
Instant pay for independent contractors
Qwil provides low cost/short term liquidity, financial tools and solutions to freelancers, independent contractors and small businesses.
Managing Director
Howie delivers expertise in many facets of business while bringing a hard core entrepreneurial perspective. After living his dream of managing and performing in a major label rock band, he started and sold a music management/licensing company in LA called Lo-Fi Music. Most recently he was on the founding team of a Y-Combinator backed biotech startup called Immunity Project and is currently a mentor at 500 Startups. He has worked closely with dozens of start-ups running biz dev for a strategic tech agency out of Oakland called Sparkart. Howie lives and works in San Francisco, CA
Venture Partner
For over 25 years, Rick has owned and operated Chicago based Rick Levin and Associates, Inc., a successful real estate and personal property auction firm. Rick was also the founder and CEO of bid4real.com, a startup that raised $7M in venture capital in 1999 to conduct online real estate auctions. Living in both downtown Chicago and the Carmel California area has allowed Rick to identify a plethora of early stage companies run by bright and energetic entrepreneurs with great young business minds.
Venture Partner
Kimberly brings close to 25 years of experience in real estate and entrepreneurial ventures. At the onset of her career, she managed large commercial real estate properties and went on to contract for government agencies as a general contractor. Her experience as an operator and manager helps make the Ranch Ventures machine run.
Venture Advisor
Mike was formerly a Principal @ Rubicon Ventures Capital and was an early employee at LiquidSpace, a San Francisco technology startup backed by Reid Hoffman, FLOODGATE, Shasta Ventures and others. Mike has in-depth knowledge and experience in the VC game and is a hustler to boot.
Technical Advisor
Ian is the "young gun" on the Ranch team that keeps us sharp and up to speed on all the latest technologies. Ian is graduate of MIT with a Bachelor of Science degree in Brain and Cognitive Science. Ian also has an engineering background and was also the technical advisor to the CPO at Zynga.
Legal
Jesse Debban is a partner in Farella Braun + Martel’s Business Transactions Group and has significant experience advising private and public companies on corporate governance matters, SEC reporting obligations, regulatory compliance issues and fiduciary duties in the context of significant transactions.
Guiding Beliefs
We've all heard the "we invest in teams, first and foremost" ideology time and time again. While we believe that's true, at Ranch VC we like to take it a step further. We look to invest in HOW people think. In their decision-making abilities. Can they roll with the punches? Will they overcome the existential risk of building a breakthrough business? We immensely respect the determination, ambition and grit all our founders possess. Our hope is to nurture those relationships into something which extends beyond the standard investor/founder dynamic. We aim to be a voice of objective reason, a benchmark of trust and an arbiter of growth for all our entrepreneurs. We view the companies we invest in not as clients, but partners. Celebrating together in the spoils of victory while enduring all the trials and tribulations and doing whatever necessary to persevere.
Investment Strategy
Our goal for Fund I is to invest in strong teams with high intellectual horsepower across many sectors of industry that are looking to make a material impact on the world. Their breakthrough ideas must coexist within a burgeoning market, have sustainable business models as well as technical defensibility. We are a generalist fund with a sector agnostic thesis which reduces restrictions on visibility and creates a more opportunistic approach. Rather than trying to predict the unpredictable, we feel it's best to amass a portfolio composed of non-consensus, high upper bound impact opportunities that are right on the edge of the risk/reward curve. All this to help ensure diversification for our investors as well as enable the future with our portfolio companies.
Our Unique Advantage
As hyper-collaborators and entrepreneurs, we bring measurable value to the table for our portfolio companies. We have a vested interest in seeing our companies succeed and therefore compelled to bring forth novel ideas, pooled resources, global connections and strategic partnerships to maximize the probability of success. Our bespoke partnering model offers preeminent value creation for our portfolio companies across many aspects of business. We are not looking to run your company or vote on who the next CEO should be. Nor do we believe in coercion. We simply want to lend our unique perspective and deliver results on things we believe are in the best interest of our partners.
