Picking up momentum
*ICYMI, here's last week’s issue.
This has been an exciting week for us. Here’s what’s in store for this week’s newsletter:
We’re proud to announce our second investment of all time: Middlemen
Crescent Partner Luca Traverso outlines an upcoming startup that plans to let teens invest in crypto
We’ve filtered our job board by category to include software engineering, marketing, content, product, and VC related opportunities
Sincerely,
The Crescent Team
*If you’re a student building something cool, want to join Crescent, or just want to chat, reach out to us at ops@crescentfund.vc.
We have invested in Middlemen!
Scams are a pretty big deal when it comes to online transactions. Middlemen is an authentication service ensures only genuine transactions go through, thanks to unified profiles and authenticity checks that run concurrently with any purchase.
In other words, Middlemen receives payment from buyers and transfers it to the seller only once the physical authenticity of a product is verified.
While there are already a few existing solutions out there, they are all platforms that lack the community aspect of a peer to peer marketplace. Middlemen, on the other hand, has first-hand experience with the power of network effects and community engagement that goes along with peer to peer marketplaces.
We’re also excited about Middlemen because we think the co-founders are fantastic. The co-founders have not only been best friends for over seven years, but even ran a successful sneaker resale business in high school together!
Read more about our investment here.
- Partner Spotlight #2: Praneet Sah -
Meet Praneet Sah, another one of Crescent’s Founding Partners.
“Try everything.” — Praneet Sah
Pictured: Praneet Sah
Time Spent at Crescent Fund: ‘20-’21
Former Crescent Role: Founding Partner
Current Role: Founding Partner at Rosten Capital Investments
—
From Praneet:
I grew up in India and moved to the states in 2017 to pursue a degree in Computer Science from UC Irvine. During my time at UCI I started an investment club, Hedge Fund Society, which quickly became the largest finance club on campus and brought me the opportunity to start Crescent Fund.
Crescent Fund was a startup-like experience where you have to wear multiple hats and figure out on your own the next thing. That’s the thing about entrepreneurship, there’s no blue-print to follow or a boss telling you what you need to do. It really pushes you to figure out what you need to do in order to realize your goal.
Upon graduating I started Rosten Capital Investments alongside a veteran hedge fund manager where we specifically invest in companies that are about to go public. There’s a lot of exciting stuff that we’re working on.
Crescent Partner Highlights
On Crypto
Crypto, Web3, and blockchain are hot topics in the tech scene right now. They are also viewed as extremely complex topics that only the most technically capable can understand and engage with.
That’s where Snowball, student founder Nitin Subramanian’s Web3 startup, steps in. Snowball plans to allow teens to invest in crypto by making it easier for them to understand it better and to invest safely with. This week, Crescent Partner Luca Traverso talks with Subramanian and outlines Snowball’s overarching mission.
This is an exciting prospect for Crescent Fund, given that crypto could become the future of currency. Snowball could be an invaluable resource for student founders who are interested in getting involved with crypto earlier on.
The Southern Californian Tech Landscape
DNABlock, a Los-Angeles based Web3 startup, rose $7 million in seed funding to further develop Replikant, their software tool that lets creators make 3D avatars.
Los Angeles is quickly growing as an area for artificial intelligence (AI) research and adoption in businesses. While AI is not as prevalent in LA compared to the Bay Area, it is supported by companies such as Deloitte, Disney, and Anthem adopting AI in their practices.
Here’s Built In LA’s list of the top 16 startups in LA. The top five include Fair, Wavemaker Labs, Pluto TV, Welcome Tech, and Revenue.io.
Career Opportunities
- Featured This Week: Amplify -
Amplify, an LA pre-seed venture fund, is hiring a full-time Analyst!
Reach out to Connor Sundberg (connor@amplify.la) and Katie Dean (katie@amplify.la) with a bit about yourself, a copy of your resume, and the subject line “Interested in Amplify Role”.
Here’s more from Amplify:
Amplify is a premier pre-seed venture capital fund based in Los Angeles, backing the strongest founding teams at the earliest stages. Amplify’s mission is to find and support the next wave of iconic technology companies, and the people behind them. Our founders span enterprise software, consumer products and services, and new and emerging technology verticals — having scaled from inception to millions of users and billions in value creation.
We’re hiring an Analyst as a foundational member of our investments team, who will assist with all aspects of the investment process, from initial sourcing and due diligence all the way through investment and ongoing support. The role will span the entire Fund lifecycle, from raise to return, and provide the opportunity to learn across every functional area of the firm.
*If you want a job or listing featured in this newsletter, please reach out to us at ops@crescentfund.vc.
Startups
Software Dev + Engineering:
Unite Us (Internship)
Edge Delta (Internship, Part-time, Full-time)
Tinder (Full-time)
Route (Full-time)
Marketing:
Slate (Internship)
Lemonlight (Internship)
Weedmaps (Full-time)
Jacmar Foodservice Distribution (Full-time)
Content:
Hybrid Space (Internship)
Atmos Home (Internship, Part-time)
Patreon (Full-time)
Pluto TV (Full-time)
Product:
Golden Hippo (Internship)
Gemini (Internship)
Snap Inc. (Full-time)
See Tickets (Full-time)
VC
JUMP Investors (Internship)
HP (Internship)
VC Lab (Internship)
*If you’re interested in helping out Southern California student founders through advising or becoming an LP feel free to reach out to ops@crescentfund.vc.
That’s it from us, folks. Thank you for tuning in and see you next week.
Signing off,
Crescent Fund