As we’ve been busy continuing to deliver on our work of supporting diverse, underrepresented, and underestimated founders, the 11 companies that we invested in last year are experiencing and paying forward the impact of Bronze Valley investments. In the midst of the work we’re excited to activate in 2024, we want to take a moment to celebrate and reflect on what we were able to accomplish in 2023, despite downturns in the amount of capital invested in the types of companies we are supporting. Underrepresented founders continue to face severe inequity and other barriers, both in deal sourcing and accessing resources. We know that they deserve equal opportunities to grow their businesses, and we continue to step in to fill this gap.
We made investments across eight states and into a range of industries in 2023—with companies in food, sports, software, data management, healthcare, retail, and fintech. We welcomed two Birmingham, Alabama-based companies, City Detect and Pye, into our portfolio. City Detect is using AI and mounted cameras to provide nonprofits and local governments with an automatic way to assess property conditions and blight throughout communities. Pye, on the other hand, is a fintech company that offers self-service kiosk solutions for restaurants, retail shops, and other hospitality businesses. Based in Tampa, Florida, Therapy iQ is an all-in-one system that automates and streamlines clinical, financial, and operational workflows for therapists to maximize efficiency and revenue. The product has integrated business operations features that reduce screen time for therapists by 80% and increase the number of patients seen by at least 25 clients per therapist per day.
We also welcomed two Philadelphia-based companies into the Bronze Valley ecosystem. Accencio is an intellectual property strategy and intelligence company, and Sweft offers a retail solution that synchronizes information between buying, merchandising, planning, creative, web production, marketing, and other departments. The last city that’s benefiting from the impact of two Bronze Valley 2023 investments is Atlanta, Georgia, where we invested in companies in retail and entertainment. Freeing Returns is a Total Retail Loss Solution Provider that’s helping to return half a trillion dollars back to retailers, and Productions.com is a job marketplace that saves money and time for studios, music labels, and corporate brands by connecting them to vetted local crews.
Productions.com also joined us as a Bronze Valley Investment Accelerator company, as did four other companies we invested in: McLean, Virginia-based Myles Comfort Foods, offering convenient and clean comfort food; New Haven, Connecticut-based Major Care, providing remote doula care and education for safer and more supported postpartum outcomes; Detroit, Michigan-based Athlytic, using tech to connect student athletes with potential endorsement partners; and PromoShare, a Chicago-based company that enables sports teams, event producers, and artists to tap into fan-generated content that can convert to sales revenue.
Our 2023 investments bring us to a total of 33 portfolio companies across 14 states that have created over 490 jobs and generated over $67M in revenue. We’re excited about all of the new additions to the Bronze Valley portfolio, and especially looking forward to the deep and far-reaching impact we can create for the five companies that are now a part of the Bronze Valley Investment Accelerator. We’re proud to be able to offer a comprehensive set of solutions which include capital for founders and communities that are underrepresented in technology entrepreneurship, enabling the next generation of innovators who are creating the future.
