Brian O'Malley

Founder @tactilevc. 20 year veteran investor across @accel, @batteryventures & @forerunnervc. Seeker of network effects & taquerias.

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

Technological progress isn’t the same as human progress. To us, it starts and ends with putting people first.

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

If you want to see the report in its entirety, it’s here: https://t.co/7QaUaYMYN4

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

The closing chapter of our State of Consumer 2026 report opens with the Longevity Economy – people investing in themselves to live better, longer.

It ends with the thread tying all six forces together: a widening trust gap, and our role to help close it. We’re focused on a future designed around people. This means backing founders who are fixated on utilizing novel technology to solve for human progress. This might seem like a given, but it isn’t always these days.

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

We named the firm Tactile for a reason. Progress should be something you can feel. Does it actually make life better? Can it be a sustainable business? Without scale and resilience, any benefit will be fleeting.

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

Congratulations team @BoomPopHQ. The best acquisitions start as partnerships!

Thank you to @healeycypher for being one of the first @tactilevc founders. Look forward to finding more ways to work together in your new capacity.

[Skift @skift]

Navan said Wednesday it has acquired BoomPop, an AI-powered platform for planning corporate meetings and events. The acquisition is the latest move in Navan’s consolidation strategy, bringing meetings and events spending into the same platform where companies already book travel and manage expenses. 

Navan declined to disclose the acquisition price.

The business travel platform partnered with BoomPop earlier this year, and the acquisition repeats an apparent Navan pattern: acquiring the partner after customer demand proved out.

https://t.co/Dsqzaz6PUc

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

@Trace_Cohen @wquist @PeterJ_Walker The problem started when one mode became seen as LP friendly & the other as GP friendly. Incentivizing liquidity is universally good.

95% of check writers today have never seen a material carry check. It is hard to ignore the impact that has on subsequent fund size bloat.

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

Thorne acquired for 5.8x revenue; Airtable acquired for 2.7x.

The consumer category seems to be alive and well.

[Dan McCormick @damccormick13]

P&G just acquired Thorne for $3.8B - a massive win for Thorne's management team and L Catterton.

Thorne will do ~$650M in sales in 2026 (30% YoY), representing a 5.8x multiple. Very good price for Thorne, suggesting this was a competitive process and P&G really wanted to get a deal done.

Thorne is the #2 seller of creatine on Amazon, doing about $100M/year on the platform alone. I'd estimate their current creatine business is probably about $150M -$200M and growing quickly, around about 25-30% of their total business.

Much respect, great outcome, good for the industry...and we're coming for that creatine business 🤝🫡

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

@kurtchessman Do you think they're leaving that cash in the business? Not distributing it?

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

Haven't seen many folks comment on the deal being ALL CASH. Not sure if it was an option to get stock, but as a later stage investor getting 1x back, I'd much rather get the upside of Bending Spoons stock versus just getting my money back.

Maybe that option wasn't on the table or maybe liquidity just gets that much of a premium right now?

[Sheel Mohnot @pitdesi]

Bending Spoons is acquiring Airtable for $2.25B

Airtable has $965M of cash, so the EV is $1.285B.

Airtable had raised $1.35B of VC capital, last round Dec ‘21 at $11.7B.

At ~$480M ARR growing 20%+ YoY, that’s 2.7x ARR.

Surprised they are selling with so much cash!

[Brian O'Malley @omal]

@bradfordcross 100%. Get the assets with real distribution and then go back and buy the AI companies that have good tech, but fail to launch.