LvlUp Ventures

VC firm investing where opportunity emerges across stage, geography, and industry — 1,000+ startups backed globally.

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

We’re wrapping up the week by highlighting 5 new companies we’ve recently added to the LvlUp Ventures portfolio.

We are intentionally industry-agnostic because exceptional execution doesn't belong to a single vertical. From frontline HR tech to deep subsurface geoscience software, we back teams building critical infrastructure for massive markets.

Swipe through the deck below for a quick snapshot of some of the startups we’ve added to our ecosystem:

🌾 Sera AI | Shifting a massive $380B industry off 1990s spreadsheets with a voice-first, AI-native Sales OS built for food supply distributors.
👥 PerfectHire | Replacing traditional corporate ATS tools with a unified talent operating system engineered for high-velocity frontline and shift-based teams.
🏡 LendlyX | Eradicating private real estate renovation fraud by validating budget line items and photo authenticity in under 60 seconds.
💳 NodeRails | Building the comprehensive merchant operating stack to make crypto a trusted, compliant, and scalable global revenue method.
🌍 GeoDepthAI | Dragging geological analysis out of legacy desktop systems with cloud-native, AI-assisted subsurface interpretation infrastructure.

Different verticals, same hyper-focused DNA.

Congratulations to these founding teams on the recent milestones. Let’s get to work. ⚡

#VentureCapital #Startups #PreSeed #SaaS #TechInvesting #B2BInfrastructure

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

You have 2 minutes.

Not to introduce yourself.
Not to explain your market.

To make us believe your brand deserves attention.

Welcome to Summer on the Shelf ☀️⚡

LvlUp CPG Fund’s live virtual pitch competition for emerging consumer brands creating real momentum.

On July 15, 15 founders will pitch live in a rapid-fire format designed to reward what actually matters:

Clarity. Traction. Conviction.

2 minutes.
No filler.
No deck marathons.

And for the top 5?

⚡ Upfront cash investment offers from LvlUp CPG Fund
⚡ A brand-new website built at no cost

We’re excited to see brands across:

🥤 Food & Beverage
🐾 Pet
💄 Skincare & Beauty
👟 Apparel
🛒 Everyday Essentials
…and categories we haven’t discovered yet

For investors: this is your front-row seat to a curated group of high-potential consumer brands. Watch live, meet founders, and continue conversations on your own timeline through warm introductions.

Question for founders: If you only had 120 seconds… would your brand stand out?

🔗 RSVP: https://t.co/T23XTXNXXg

#PitchCompetition #StartupFunding #ConsumerBrands #VentureCapital

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

Five days. Five industries. One room full of the people who fund what comes next.

Here is how Power of the Pitch Week runs, July 13 to 17:

Monday, AI. The founders building the tools everyone else will be using next year.
Tuesday, B2B. The companies quietly running other companies.
Wednesday, CPG. The consumer brands people put in their cart.
Thursday, Consumer Tech. The products people actually want in their hands.
Friday, Emerging. The wild cards, the categories that do not have a name yet.

Every day, live pitches in front of 250+ investors and partners and the same eleven-judge panel led by GP Aaron Golbin.

Pick your day, or watch the whole week. Sign up to watch our founders pitch live. And if you are building, apply to pitch at our next series of pitch events. Links in the comments.

Watch our founders pitch live: https://t.co/TpJ8EYRwCn
Apply to pitch at our next series of events: https://t.co/NSZH3GT61A

#startups #venturecapital #preseed #founderfirst #PowerOfThePitch

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

🎓 Are you a current student at a 4-year university or a recent graduate (within the last two years) looking to break into VC?

Turn your campus network into a launchpad for your career in venture capital.

We're looking for the next generation of LvlUp Ventures University Ambassadors—students and recent graduates who are passionate about startups, entrepreneurship, and connecting founders with opportunities.

As a University Ambassador, you'll:

✨ Build your leadership experience on campus
🤝 Connect with founders, investors, and fellow student entrepreneurs
🚀 Help grow your university's startup ecosystem
💼 Gain hands-on experience with one of the fastest-growing venture communities

The best part? University Ambassadors are selected from our LvlUp Scout Program, where you'll learn how to source promising startups, evaluate investment opportunities, and become part of an active community of founders and investors.

If you're ready to build your network, strengthen your resume, and play a meaningful role in venture capital, we'd love to have you.

Apply to the LvlUp Scout Program today and take the first step toward becoming a University Ambassador: https://t.co/N0jufOLg8A

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

🗽 New York, we're back.

On September 15th, we're bringing together some of the most ambitious founders, investors, and operators in the startup ecosystem for another LvlUp Founder & Investor Networking Event.

The best opportunities happen in conversations.
The founder you meet over a drink becomes your next customer.
The investor you weren't expecting to meet becomes your next partner.
The introduction you almost didn't make changes the trajectory of your company.

That's why we keep building these rooms.

Expect:
✨ 200+ founders, investors, and operators
🍸 Open bar & curated food
🥂 Brand tastings and product showcases
🤝 Meaningful conversations
🚀 Live founder pitches

Whether you're raising capital, looking to invest, hiring, or simply expanding your network, this is where New York's startup community comes together.

The venue will be shared with approved attendees.

If you're building something ambitious, we'd love to have you there.
📅 September 15
📍 New York City

Register here: https://t.co/McfsGR0EI4

We'll see you in NYC.

Special thank you to our sponsors SHOPLINE, Snobase, Brex, and Pilot for helping bring this event to life.

#Startups #Founders #VentureCapital #Networking #NYCStartups #Entrepreneurship #Tech #CPG #AI #Innovation

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

Everyone talks about getting in front of the right people. Here is what that actually looks like.

Power of the Pitch Week puts 250+ investors and partners in one room, July 13 to 17. Dozens of live pitches across the week, five industries, one a day, from AI to B2B to CPG to Consumer Tech to Emerging.

The panel is eleven judges led by GP Aaron Golbin.

This is the room. Not a practice round, not a webinar. Founders on stage, backers in the seats, decisions getting made in real time.

You can be in that room too. Sign up to watch our founders pitch live, or apply to pitch at our next series of pitch events.

Watch our founders pitch live: https://t.co/TpJ8EYRwCn
Apply to pitch at our next series of events: https://t.co/NSZH3GT61A

#startups #venturecapital #preseed #founderfirst #PowerOfThePitch

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

For five days, 250+ investors and partners sit in one room to decide which founders are worth backing.

Power of the Pitch Week runs July 13 to 17, live and online. Five industries, one a day: AI on Monday, B2B Tuesday, CPG Wednesday, Consumer Tech Thursday, Emerging on Friday.

"Pitch Week gives rising startups from all backgrounds the opportunity to level up." That is how Aaron Golbin, our General Partner at LvlUp Ventures, frames it.

LvlUp is founder-first. More than 20,000 founders apply to us every year, and Pitch Week is where a selected few pitch live to the people who will write their first check.

This is not a stage for exposure. It is where the people writing the checks watch founders pitch and decide who they back.

Sign up to watch our founders pitch live: https://t.co/TpJ8EYRwCn
Building something yourself? Apply to pitch at our next series of pitch events: https://t.co/NSZH3GT61A

#startups #venturecapital #preseed #founderfirst #PowerOfThePitch

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

Behind every great company is a founder who saw a problem worth solving, and decided to do something about it.

Meet three new founders from our First Check Fund – supporting founders as their first VC check:

🚀 Ramin Rajaii, founder of Rajaii Labs – Building AI infrastructure that gives assistants long-term memory and persistent context.

✈️ Pranamee Sarma, founder of bAI – Reimagining family travel with AI-powered trip planning personalized for every family.

🍽️ Hengyi Wu, founder of Frenzy – Connecting restaurants with local creators through a marketplace built for authentic short-form content.

We're excited to support founders turning ambitious ideas into real businesses, and we're looking forward to watching what they build next.

#FounderSpotlight #VentureCapital #Startups #AI #CreatorEconomy #TravelTech #LvlUpVentures

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

Meet the judges for Power of the Pitch Week.

Five industry days, one panel of investors and operators deciding who walks away with a check.

These are the people in the room when founders pitch July 13–17.

Want a seat? Request to attend.

https://t.co/TpJ8EYRwCn

#VentureCapital #StartupFunding #PowerOfThePitch #Pitch

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

Most CPG founders know this feeling:

You finally hit momentum.
Sales are moving. Retail conversations are opening. Customers are paying attention.

…and then fundraising enters the chat.

Weeks of diligence. Endless partner meetings. Waiting for calendars instead of building.
By the time capital lands, the moment that created the opportunity can already feel miles away.

We think there’s a better way.

At LvlUp CPG Fund, we write checks weekly because breakout brands don’t happen on quarterly timelines.
If you're raising, scaling, or trying to understand what actually gets investor attention in today’s market, join us.

🗓️ July 8 | 12:30 PM ET
⏱️ 45-minute Founder Info Session

What founders get beyond capital:

✦ Direct GP office hours → honest feedback, real conversations
✦ Monthly operator sessions → tactical insights from people actively building
✦ Quarterly in-person gatherings → investors + CPG leaders making decisions now
✦ Access to Labs → our 10-week accelerator focused on sharper positioning + real distribution opportunities

We back CPG broadly, with extra excitement for Food & Beverage and Beauty.

But in the end, our filter stays simple:
→ Is the brand strong?
→ Is the story impossible to ignore?

If you're an early-stage CPG founder in the US, Canada, Europe, or the UK – we’d love to meet you.

🔗 RSVP: https://t.co/YhJUewvjIk

#ConsumerBrands #Fundraising #VentureCapital

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

This week, LvlUp Ventures didn't slow down for a second.

341 applications came into our funnel. Founders from idea-stage to growth-stage, across every corner of what we invest in.

We issued plenty of offers. Not term sheets buried in legal jargon, not months of back-and-forth. Real offers, issued fast, across over five different funds and programs:

→ Seed Fund
→ CPG Fund
→ Non-Dilutive Financing Funds
→ First Check Fund
→ Small Business Fund
→ E-Commerce Ecosystem Builders Fund
→ LvlUp Labs
→ LvlUp Labs Marketing Edge

We closed investments in 32 companies this week alone. Speed isn't the goal. It's the byproduct. When you strip out the data rooms, the unnecessary diligence theater, and the weeks of silence founders are used to, you get to yes (or no) faster. Founders deserve decisions, not black holes.

341 applications. 32 closed. Over eight programs, one week.

This is what backing founders at scale actually looks like.

More next week. 🚀

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

Great products don't just solve problems, they rethink how entire industries work.

Here's a closer look at three companies in the LvlUp Ventures portfolio and the products they're building.

🔬 Bunyaad is building the infrastructure layer for real estate, connecting developers, agencies, and buyers into one intelligent ecosystem.

🎓 Meetro is modernizing campus recruitment by bringing colleges, employers, and students together through an AI-powered platform.

🎵 Clooza is building the infrastructure for creator commerce, giving creators one platform to manage their audience, monetize their work, process payments, and grow their businesses.

The best products don't just improve existing workflows, they create entirely new ways for people to connect, collaborate, and create value.

Swipe through to see what makes each product different.

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

Some investments begin with a single decision.

The strongest long-term partnerships are built through continued execution.

We first invested in Herbal Accession through our CPG Fund. As the company continued to hit milestones, we later invested through our Marketing Edge Accelerator, and most recently through our First Check Fund.

Three separate investment decisions. Three independent review processes. One company that continued to demonstrate progress.

Over the past few years, Herbal Accession has built meaningful momentum:
🌿 Serving customers across 40 U.S. states
🏆 Selected as one of 16 businesses in Walmart's 2025 Retail Readiness Program
🤝 Serving as a trusted vendor for national events, including Buy From A Black Woman × H&M

One of the realities of venture investing is that conviction isn't always formed on day one.

While an initial investment reflects belief in a founder's potential, follow-on investments are often earned through consistent execution, disciplined growth, and the ability to build on momentum over time.

Herbal Accession is a great example of that progression, and we're excited to continue supporting the team as they expand their retail footprint and bring herbal wellness to more customers.

Congratulations to the entire Herbal Accession team on everything they’ve accomplished so far.

#LvlUpVentures #PortfolioCompany #CPG #ConsumerBrands #VentureCapital #FounderJourney

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

Yesterday, we brought together our first group of 25 LvlUp Labs founders based in Dubai.

Seeing companies we've backed come together in person for an afternoon of live pitches, thoughtful conversations, and new connections was a milestone for our growing presence across the MENA region.

The quality of founders building across MENA continues to impress us. From ambitious ideas to businesses already gaining real traction, this ecosystem is entering an exciting new chapter—and we're proud to be investing alongside the entrepreneurs building it.

At LvlUp Ventures, our goal is to do more than provide capital. We want to build a community where founders can learn from one another, form meaningful relationships, and access the network, resources, and support they need to scale.

A huge thank you to every founder who joined us, pitched their company, and contributed to the conversations. And thank you to everyone who helped make the afternoon possible.

This gathering is just the beginning.

We're excited to continue backing exceptional founders across the MENA region and look forward to bringing even more entrepreneurs together in the months ahead.

See you at the next one. 🚀

#LvlUpVentures #LvlUpLabs #MENA #Dubai #StartupEcosystem #VentureCapital #Founders #EarlyStageStartups #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

🌱 You know what a brand needs at the Pre-Seed stage because you've been there. 🌱

That instinct is worth more than most checks, and there's a cohort this fall who need exactly it.

LvlUp CPG Fund is opening up our Mentor Alliance for the next Labs CPG Accelerator. If you're an operator, founder, or investor who's lived the CPG, retail, or wholesale grind, this is a chance to put that hard-won knowledge to work where it lands hardest: with early-stage brands still figuring out their shot.

The program runs 10 weeks. The relationships tend to run a lot longer: the collaborations, the deal flow, the clients that come from being there before anyone else was paying attention.

You decide how deep you go. Three ways in:

☕ Office Hours – 20–30 min 1:1s, booked directly into your calendar on your terms. Show up, share, done.
🎙️ Masterclass – 45 minutes on your zone of genius. Brand strategy, growth, fundraising, distribution — whatever you'd want someone to have told you at the start.
🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 Direct Intros – we pair you with 3–4 portfolio brands matched to your background before week one. The rest is yours to shape.

Mentors also get the connective tissue around it all:

✦ Monthly mentor calls and cohort check-ins to stay close to the portfolio
✦ A private Slack to trade notes, spot synergies, and build with other mentors
✦ Quarterly in-person events with portfolio brands, angels, VCs, scouts, and operators

The best founders remember who backed them before it was obvious. That's the whole pitch.

👉🏻 Apply to join the Mentor Alliance: https://t.co/exKOya3MPP
Fall cohort's filling in. Worth a look before it does.

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

One month in. 65 first check investments. 15+ checks written every single week.

When we launched the LvlUp Ventures First Check Fund, we made a commitment: stop waiting for the perfect pitch deck, the polished data room, the traction that proves what we already knew. Back founders early. Back them fast. Back them when it actually matters.

65 companies later, that commitment hasn't slowed down once.

We are now opening the doors to a new group:
University student founders in the United States, we will write you a check. 85% acceptance rate.

1,000 first checks in 2026.

Here's why this matters to us: some of the most important companies ever built were started by students who couldn't get a single investor to take them seriously. The ones who did get early investors? They moved faster, stayed in the game longer, and had the confidence to keep building when everyone else told them to get a job.

We want to be that first yes.

If you're a student founder in the US with an idea worth fighting for, you don't need a co-founder, a prototype, or a pitch competition win to apply. You need a problem worth solving and the conviction to go after it.

What comes with the check:
✦ $1-10k in cash
✦ 10M+ in startup perks to help you move from idea to execution
✦ Delaware C-Corp incorporation — we handle the foundation so you can focus on building
✦ Access to LvlUp's global network of investors, operators, and founders
✦ A path to follow-on funding from our Seed Fund of up to $250K as you grow

Investments every week. That pace isn't slowing down.

Is your company next?

📩 DM us or drop a comment below — tell us what you're building in one sentence. We read every single one.

🔗 Apply at https://t.co/1vlqsssYkp

#LvlUpVentures #FirstCheckFund #StudentFounders #UniversityFounders #PreSeed #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #GenZFounders #BuildInPublic #EarlyStage

[LvlUp Ventures @Lvlupvc]

Before the product, the traction, or the milestones, there is a founder who sees an everyday frustration and decides to build a solution.

Today, we're highlighting three companies from the LvlUp Ventures portfolio and sharing the stories behind what they're building.

👕 Attyr is reimagining online shopping with an AI-powered personal stylist that helps consumers find the right fit before they buy, reducing returns and making shopping more personalized.

📝 Formeon is ensuring product teams never lose valuable context by automatically capturing and organizing every product decision across meetings, Slack, and documentation.

🤝 SOQL is helping professionals build stronger real-world relationships through an AI-powered networking assistant that encourages meaningful connections beyond the screen.

We're proud to support founders tackling real problems with thoughtful, innovative solutions.
Which company are you most excited to learn more about?