Premoney 40: Peek-a-bond & Captain Experiences

Welcome to week 40! Great to see a few of you in NYC and SF the last few weeks. Looking forward to meeting more Premoney readers / investors in the future. Both of this weeks companies focus on building better connections with loved ones, nature, and yourself. After the year we have had, we are all looking for new ways to connect with others….and have fun. These companies focus on just that.

Side-hustle Shout out: Bopbop Art

I will get in trouble for this…so please make it worth it!

Who: My humble sister, Annie (hence me getting in trouble).

What: Side hustle story 

• May: Quit her job after deciding to go back to school to study social impact, innovation & investing.

• June: Started drawing again, focused on “cozy storefronts” in NYC. Posted her work on Instagram, under BopBopArt & received numerous “can I buy these?” requests.

• July 18th: Launched a BopBopArt Shopify store, sold 3 prints in one day.

So What:

• If you’re looking for a fun gift, or just love NY, check out her work or share it with friends!

This weeks companies:

Company: Peekabond

Founder: Anieke Lamers

Raise Details: €150k ($181k) this month. (90% committed). Raising a larger round of  >€500k ($603k) in Q3.

Vertical: Consumer Social, Community, Content, Artificial Intelligence, Communication, Education

Business Model: DTC, Subscription

1-Liner: Helping global families to bond remotely through content inspiration based on child development science

Description: There is accelerated market momentum driven by covid: the target market is families with young kids who don’t have their loved ones physically close (for example expats, parents working in the military/internationally, divorced parents, etc), with a lot of market momentum since covid. The global Kids App market is ~$80 billion with an expected growth of 8x by 2024.

We have a great customer experience: Peekabond has tested the first proof of concept app with families and currently has a selective group of >200 families waitlisted to test the beta app to be launched in August (alpha app is being tested now). Peekabond is valued by customers because they help them provide inspirational kids content, with an ethical UX & user friendly interface for all ages, and because they help them to save all loving video messages in 1 spot: private and safe (link to demo).

The team is complementary and fit for purpose: the team is made up of Anieke Lamers (looking after fundraising and business) and Vincent van den Noort (looking after Product, UX). Anieke is an ex-VC having worked on impact investments and consumer tech deals. Vincent is a serial entrepreneur and senior UX expert. They have an Advisory Board involved with extensive scientific experience in child development and a number of trusted advisors who are leaders in the tech startup and investments field (such as Daniel Gebler, CTO of tech startup Picnic that raised > $300M in NL). They onboarded a first founding engineer Martijn Pannevis who has extensive experience building mobile video apps and a Chief Scientist and Play expert with a Phd in Child development science.

Traction Indicators:

• 250 families subscribed for MVP

• NPS is 72Connect with Peek-a-Bond

Company: Captain Experiences

Founder: Jonathan Newar

Raise Details: Raising $750k via convertible note

Vertical: Marketplace, Travel, Sports

Business Model: Marketplace, Commission

1-Liner: Captain Experiences makes booking outdoor sports guides quick, easy, and safe.

Description: Austin-based Captain Experiences makes booking outdoor sports guides quick, easy, and safe. Instead of playing phone tag, search Captain for your ideal trip and book with our licensed and insured guides. Focused first on fishing in Texas, we'll soon support all outdoor sports and geographies.Since launching in March of 2020, we've partnered with 375+ guides and booked 500+ trips for $420k+ in volume at 20% commissions.You should care because Americans spend $27B annually on outdoor sports guide fees even though booking is a mess. How many more people will enjoy the outdoors when Captain makes booking guides easy? That's the question that keeps us up at night on our way to Unlocking the Outdoors for All.

Traction:

Since launching in March of 2020:

• 📈 Partnered with 375+ guides

• Booked 500+ trips for $420k+ in volume at 20% commissions

• April 2021: we booked $100k in trip volume for over $18k in revenue

That’s all for this week!

See you next time,

Jake