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/ˈdäzīn/

Being there for entrepreneurs in Machine Learning and AI startups

Mission

Uncertain times and volatile markets expose flaws. For tech startups, flaws include vanity metrics and unjustified valuations. Current economic challenges have thrust the quality and consistency of core values to the forefront, creating an opportunity for exceptional venture returns to those with the courage to pursue them.

Working closely with entrepreneurs, Dasein’s Managing Partners and Advisor Community leverage their prior success as founders to mitigate risk and bring a distinct advantage to portfolio companies by sharing authentic experiences gained from launching and growing successful machine learning & AI powered businesses.

The fund invests seed stage capital in AI-first startups and offers a community-based network, providing strategic and operational support from ideation through Series A financing.

If you are a founder with a unique early-stage AI startup, we'd love to talk with you, send us your pitch.

PITCH US

Our Work

Dasein identifies with entrepreneurship because we are entrepreneurs. We share a common passion and relentless persistence to create new companies that use emerging technology to reshape lives in new and positive directions. We are driven by an underlying sense of care and commitment to build a sustainable and equitable future through innovation and quality execution.

Dasein’s unique approach helps entrepreneurs bridge the chasm between sophisticated ML & AI technologies and real-world applications, enabling the creation of high performing, profitable businesses that deliver significant returns to investors.

If you would like to contribute to this mission, please connect with us. We look forward to the dialogue.

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Opening new doors to ML healthcare research via federated learning

SymetryML has developed a breakthrough innovative technology (The PSR) that powers a very unique machine learning solution that includes proprietary federated learning 2.0 platform and a rapid model building & analysis toolkit. Helping healthcare companies build, deploy and scale ML solutions faster, easier, safer and more cost effective than ever before.
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Translating data into discoveries

BioSymetrics is a phenomics-driven drug discovery company that integrates clinical and experimental data, using machine learning, to translate human disease biology and advance precision medicines. We use patented technology to de-noise, de-bias and integrate complex data for use across a phenotype-driven, therapeutic discovery process.
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Helping your IT staff of 3 manage vulnerabilities like a team of 30

Security is often an afterthought in firms with a lean and agile IT staff. Our patented SaaS, powered by Cognition Engine, helps establish and enable security compliance and control automation through a combination of proprietary features, integrations, and services. Start Left’s data-driven application security posture management platform provides a complete life cycle approach and deployment in minutes.
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Delivering Data-privacy, speed, and actionable insights

Prescient AI is developing a marketing simulation and prediction platform capable of analyzing data in the midst of tightening security and privacy policies for consumers in the digital domain. Without employing cookies, Prescient’s platform enables its users to measure, forecast, optimize, and automatically deploy marketing strategy and funnels with meticulous accuracy.
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Autonomous driving is still scary - Inverted AI’s technology makes it much less scary

Training inputs for autonomous driving models is often accumulated from real world driving data. Yet, the vast majority of this data is too uniform for ML purposes. Simulators can produce large volumes of data. However, the realism and utility of this data is fundamentally challenged as well. Inverted has taken a proprietary approach to create simulated data from sophisticated artificial drivers within the virtual world, offering cost-effective development of driving systems.
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Data-science in a box for investment managers and traders

VeridianML is an easy-to-use software that enables no-code testing of trading strategies and alpha development across asset classes. The software helps investors perform alpha and trade research, regardless of experience, using machine learning techniques.
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We combine data driven objectivity and intuition to produce better hires

Talent search is often inefficient, biased, and inconsistent. interviewIA fills an urgent need to help interviewers deliver a consistent, non-biased experience driven by structure and real-time analytics to hire a diverse, qualified workforce. interviewIA’s founding team established and validated this unique methodology while working together over the last several years on the front lines of innovative talent strategies.
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One picture = 1000 words,
But a pile of pixels is not a picture

Stitch3D simplifies the visualization of data created by imaging hardware. For decades, massive amounts of data has been created for a multitude of commercial, military, and academic purposes using LIDAR imaging. Much of this data is structured for analytic tools, where most are hardware specific, expensive, and cumbersome to maintain. We have built a PaaS that quickly processes and visualizes this data, regardless of the hardware that created it.
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NLP (machines reading text) that protects our neighborhoods

Multitude Insights keeps communities safe and connected by deploying cutting-edge tools for public safety stakeholders. With our platform, BLTN (pronounced bulletin), we offer document intelligence enabling officers quick assimilation of vast amounts of information about their community - through the power of natural language processing. We disseminate information about suspects, issue bulletins, and track trends in real-time.
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AI that improves the wellbeing of stroke victims

Syntrillo is a physician-founded startup with a growing team of clinicians, rehab specialists, psychologists, and engineers working tirelessly to protect the millions of brains at risk for stroke. We are developing and testing AI algorithms that can identify warning signs of future stroke. By better detecting patients at high risk, we can deliver expert-level preventative care to the people who need it the most.
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AI that explains market moves faster than you can

Founded in 2021 by experts in economics, trading, and financial technology, MarketReader provides clear, objective explanations of asset price movement in a way that is accessible to all types of investors, from retail to institutional. We democratize financial information by making professional-grade data and insights available to our users.
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Forget surveys – go directly to your competitors’ customers to tell you what is most important

For most consumer facing firms, it’s difficult to evaluate what is top of mind for their customers. Now imagine the power in discovering what is most important for your competition’s customers. We have developed a flexible machine learning platform over several years to help our clients make sense of too much info. It’s far more accurate and predictive than most image recognition, tone analysis, heart rate, and many other audience measurement techniques combined.
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Easy returns for online shoppers / Online returns picked up from your doorstep - No box, No Label, No Lines

Pollen uses AI to offer a faster, greener, and cost efficient way to handle returns of online purchases. We use an intelligent optimizer to utilize idle resources to simplify customer product returns and bring a solution to a completely unserved need. Our expertise in logistics, transport, and predictive AI dramatically reduces purchase anxiety while streamlining re-injection of inventory into the supply line for vendors.
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Get time with true industry experts to learn and grow

Sidetime is dedicated to connecting anyone to experts who can help. Whether it be with advice on your next career move, insight into an industry, mentorship as you grow professionally, or lessons to help you do what you do better, we’ve got you covered. Quickly connect 1-on-1 from top experts and professionals to level up.
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Enabling robots to learn and adapt intelligently

We build AI enabled software to help robots to excel where conventional robotics fail — in unstructured environments where conditions constantly change. ThoughtForge automates tasks 1000x quicker than current conventional methods and has outpaced other solutions using traditional controls, smart robotics, and machine learning. Our solution excels in difficult environments and can be implemented in three simple steps totaling less than 4 hours.
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Technology that finds clothing that is the perfect fit

TrueToForm is an AI powered solution that helps consumers take guesswork out of their fashion decisions by achieving the perfect fit every time. Fashion developers and designers can expand reach, save time, save cost, and increase sustainability whether they are custom-fit clothiers or the world’s largest brands with global reach. Dozens of measurements are easily taken in seconds using any smart device and in complete privacy.
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Map the invisible and empower insights using geospatial intelligence

Geography is more than just a static map. It's a living, breathing narrative. It not only presents a location but also unfolds a tale about that place, its present conditions, and its potential future. However, the challenge lies in effectively harnessing this immense reservoir of data and intelligence. Geogentia extracts simple to understand information from large geolocation and investigative databases by using AI to model relationships in events and locations.
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Deep expertise augmented by AI to create entire marketing ecosystems

engageSimply pioneered the use of data and AI that create comprehensive solutions spanning advertising and technical services. Its Topic Intelligence module analyzes and implements data through SEO strategies, ongoing content creation efforts (multimedia), and content distribution across all channels in highly scalable ways. We take the guesswork out of creating marketing assets that perform.
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The new gold standard to measure stress, mood, and energy in real-time

Canary Speech’s vocal biomarker technology unlocks voice as a vital sign, leading a new era of machine learning in healthcare. We are the sole clinical-grade technology providing real-time vocal analysis to screen for energy, stress, and mood level. Our mission is to replace subjective measurements with objective, actionable data to assess wellness and power more successful patient outcomes. Our technology models acoustic and linguistic features, returning analysis using just 20 seconds of conversational speech.
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Improving litigation Finance through data

We use AI and expert judgment to construct a predictive model for use by litigation finance investors. Our team of lawyers, AI and ML scientists created the framework and tools to systematize the analysis and prediction of outcomes. In creating a litigation finance market, we are the first to structure the broad body of legal filings and train a model that augments human decisions with quicker and greater accuracy.
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Eliminating noise and improving intelligibility in conversations

Based on decades of research into acoustic phonetics, speech production and speech perception, OmniSpeech takes a novel approach to the challenge of ensuring clear speech in noisy environments. Its groundbreaking speech extraction technology, OmniClear®, reduces virtually all background noise and improves voice intelligibility on any platform or device. Renowned for its low latency real-time processing and low power consumption.
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Evolving the VFX industry with AI

Electric Sheep was born after years of camera to post experience for Netflix, Amazon and Disney. We saw an opportunity to take the challenges faced in VFX and leverage cutting edge AI technology to solve them. Our mission is to allow artists to get back to what they do best - telling stories through creative, stunning and impactful visual effects. The first step on our journey is rotoscoping.
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Team

Scott
Russo

Managing Partner

Scott was Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Mogility Capital, and Co-Founder, COO & CFO at AdTheorent. He is a career entrepreneur and selective startup investor who has actively supported technological innovations in machine learning, data science, mobile applications & new media for over 20 years.

Previously, Scott was Co-Founder and CEO of Augme Mobile. After a successful strategic sale in 2009, he served as COO of the acquiring company for one year before launching the flagship fund of Mogility Capital and joining the Founding team at AdTheorent.

Early in his career, Scott was a business manager in the corporate venture incubator at Bell Labs (Lucent Technologies), partnering with top engineers in wireless technology to ideate and launch venture-backed startups using leading edge innovations on the cusp of the wireless revolution.

In 2001, Scott Co-Founded Freewire Networks as a spin out from Bell Labs, creating a venue-based broadband wireless platform that pioneered interactive multimedia Apps on handheld devices before the smartphone era.

Scott’s experience with the Bell Labs new venture group and spin-out of Freewire Networks sparked many the foundational themes behind Mogility Capital that have now evolved further into the mission and strategy driving Dasein Capital.

Scott holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from Bucknell University.

Dustin
O’Dell

Managing Partner

Dustin has over 10 years of startup and business development experience, including all facets of sales, product positioning, go-to-market strategies and revenue generation.

Dustin joined as the sixth employee at AdTheorent in 2012 and was responsible for driving millions of dollars in revenue and developing key partnerships with top brands and agencies throughout the rapid, early stage growth of the company. He was a leader in the positioning and selling the machine learning capabilities that became the practical elements of SymetryML.

Dustin then co-founded Barometric, an analytics startup and subsidiary of AdTheorent, which was sold to Claritas 2018 at a 2x valuation multiple in less than a year.

Most recently Dustin founded & raised early stage capital to create Evzdrop, a social music startup, where he formed partnerships with all three major music labels along with top brands and celebrities.

Dustin is an advisor to Mira Analytics, 10 Block, MonsterfulVR and VIPER, and for the past six months has been actively involved with the SymetryML-driven businesses that will immediately create the foundational portfolio of Dasein.

Dustin has a BA in Communications and Business from Indiana University (South Bend) and was a scholarship athlete for the men’s varsity basketball team.

Charlie
Ko

Partner, COO

After starting his career at The Mathworks (Matlab) as an applications engineer, Charlie has spent two decades applying data science and machine learning to some of the financial market’s most difficult challenges.

He has directly contributed and managed teams that have built data-driven investment models that promote discovery and decision tools within some of the world’s top global financial services firms, including Batterymarch, Invesco, and State Street. These solutions were responsible for connecting human and machine intelligence to drive better outcomes.

As COO at Dasein, he works with Scott and Dustin on due-diligence, and heads investment administration including fund compliance and client reporting.

Immediately before joining Dasein, Charlie was Chief Revenue Officer within a financial data engineering firm (SlyceData), with oversight for sales, client development, and applications consulting.

Prior to SlyceData, he was the Chief Investment Officer within a high net-worth private wealth manager with responsibilities for investment model design, commercialization, and scaling.

Charlie has received a BSME from MIT and MBA from Yale.

Aoife
Manley

Principal

Aoife is a Principal at Dasein Capital and brings extensive experience in marrying strategy with the day-to-day necessities of running a startup. She has succeeded as an operator in diverse senior roles from marketing to finance. She thrives in dynamic settings, effectively linking long-term objectives with actionable steps.

As Slycedata's Chief of Operations, Aoife streamlined HR and financial operations, while ensuring compliance and resolving key issues spanning the organization. Her Chief of Staff role at Elsen saw her bridging gaps across multiple departments to enhance the firm’s product and service offerings.

Her experience with Included VC, selected among a vast pool of candidates, reflects her commitment to professional growth. Aoife is currently working towards her MSc in Data Science at Georgia Tech, and currently holds a BSc from Northeastern and BA from Dublin City University.

Thomas
Redmond

Entrepreneur In Residence

Thomas is Dasein’s Entrepreneur in Residence, and has active senior management roles at two Dasein portfolio ventures. As a former investment banker, venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur, he has paired insight with execution at over a dozen start-ups.

Thomas began his early-stage venture career in the 1990s when he founded a telephony services company in Thailand.

He then leveraged this experience in a finance role at Lucent Technologies New Ventures Group to help raise more than $100m in private equity for dozens of ventures.

Subsequent to Lucent, Thomas has served on advisory boards to numerous early-stage ventures, and held C-suite roles at technology firms delivering solutions for optical networking, narrowcast television, online travel, peer to peer lending, and cybersecurity.

He received a BSE from the Wharton School.

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