Investments
In 2023 We Announced 7 New Early-Stage Investments
Slang

Slang AI provides SMBs with a customizable virtual phone agent, transforming the phone into a channel that is intelligent, personal, and delightful for callers.
Slang is the first customer intelligence layer for the phone. With clear proof points around increasing revenue, reducing staff phone time, and resolving caller demands, Slang has grown quickly to over 200 customers, including Zola, Studs, Slutty Vegan, and IGC Hospitality.
Hue

Hue drives sales with shoppable, user-generated video technology, featuring authentic testimonials from everyday people.
Credo, Exa, and Lawless Beauty are already benefitting from Hue’s full-service solution, which comes at a fraction of the cost of traditional influencer agencies. Hue’s comprehensive shoppable UGC technology is creating a 29% conversion increase on websites that feature videos powered by Hue.
Aircon

Aircon is making worldwide air freight consolidation simple for air freight forwards of all sizes.
Aircon is the industry’s first digital platform that enables consolidation across the entire air freight market. Moreover, Aircon optimizes the entire air freight booking, monitoring, and cost-cutting process, while providing rates significantly better than those offered by airlines or other booking platforms.
Darby

Darby is on a mission to make it a joy to deliver magical patient experiences in the home.
Darby is revolutionizing the currently manual, error-prone, and time-consuming at-home-care order process by supercharging intake teams with AI-powered fax automation technology. Darby’s innovative document processing allows teams to focus on what matters, providing quality care experiences.
Hypernatural

Hypernatural is a generative video creation platform for marketers.
Hypernatural uses AI to understand your unique style and generates new, never-before-seen B-roll that aligns with your brand. Hypernatural enables you to add custom-generated captions, animations, and logos to make your videos stand out.
Trove

Trove Health makes it easy for you to access your medical records, when you need them, in a format you can actually use.
Trove Health is building the world’s largest longitudinal, consented database of patients and their health information across geographies and therapeutic areas. Trove Health’s vision is that with the proper authentication, any user can access any healthcare data through any application.
Cenoa

Cenoa has built a “Borderless Super Wallet” to help individuals and institutions build long-term wealth and protect their assets from inflation.
The Cenoa team is making a smartly calculated bet, beginning with decentralized banking in emerging markets, where the value proposition of accessing dollar-based products and inflation-resistant yields is extremely meaningful. The team is bridging the masses to a new financial infrastructure built on blockchain technology.
Portfolio Momentum
We congratulate our portfolio founders on an impactful year of business building and value creation. In turbulent times, they’ve shown resilience, grit, and progress.
The Underscore portfolio by the numbers
Active portfolio companies
Across:
- Future of
Work - Vertical
SaaS - B2B
Fintech - Emerging
Technology
Sourced from...
Measuring what matters
Since becoming a PRI Signatory in 2021, we’ve been measuring what matters and benchmarking the diversity of those we have the privilege to invest in.
47%
Diverse Founders
46% of Underscore’s participating portfolio company founders identify with an overlooked gender, race, or sexuality.
21%
Female Founders
Compared to 11% benchmarkNationally, only 11% of early-stage funding went to female founders.
Source: Crunchbase, 2022
13%
Black/Latinx Founders
Compared to 0.9% benchmarkIn Boston, only 0.9% of early-stage funding went to Black/Latinx founders.
Source: All Raise, 2021
As of 12.5.23 - Based on 68 portfolio company founders who opted into self identifying in Underscore’s D&I survey.
2,000+ Core Members
The Underscore portfolio is strengthened by our Core Community of battle-tested business builders.
- 15
Peer Groups
- 46
Formal Core Gatherings
- 91
Core Summit NPS
2023 Core Leaders

Seijin Mong
Customer SuccessSr. Director of CS, Starburst Data
Rob Zambito
Customer SuccessFounder, Success Scaled
Joseph Alim
ProductVP of Product, Compt
Susan An
SalesVP of Sales, HYCY
Alex Lindahl
SalesSales Director, Chainguard
Shari McGrath
Customer SuccessCS Executive
Anum Valliani
ProductDirector of Product Management, Lambent
Alex Ruiz
ProductHead of Product, LearnLux8 New
Core Partners Added in 2023 including...

Samuel Lee
Head of Pricing Strategy and Operations, SnowflakePagos Core Partner
Wendy Wise
GTM Advisor/ConsultantCloudZero Core Partner
Nish Murthy
Founding Partner, Minot Light ConsultingAircon Core Partner
Suresh Bala
VP Product Management, WorkdayClockwork Core Partner
Andy Han
VP Product Management, Veeva SystemsHi Marley Core Partner
Carsten Holm
VP Product Management, SplunkPagos Core Partner
Jay Wampold
CMO, Sixty AICloudZero Core Partner
Joe Morrison
Finance at Collard Advisory GroupCloudZero Core PartnerIn Memoriam
As we reflect on our 2023, we remember the incredible and lasting impact John Pearce has had on our firm, portfolio, and community. Within the Underscore family, we called John “The Legend,” as he was an endless source of experience, sound advice, and amazing stories. We are grateful for the wisdom he shared and the example he set for us all—something we will carry forward as a team in 2024 and beyond.
