Story Ventures

We've just hit 150 Million Verifications! 🎉 Reaching this milestone strengthens Smile ID's position as Africa's leading digital ID provider. Our growth has been extraordinary: ✅ 5 years to reach 50M verifications ✅ 11 months to double to 100M ✅ Just 166 days to add another 50M and hit 150M verifications across Africa We're accelerating at an unprecedented pace, thanks to our amazing customers, partners, and team. As we continue to innovate and expand, we remain committed to providing secure, reliable identity verification solutions across Africa and beyond. Thank you for being a part of this journey! Together, we're shaping the future of identity verification.

We are pleased to announce our partnership with Chubb Workplace Benefits! This collaboration aims to transform risk by making clinical prevention & screenings accessible to all, helping to prevent & detect up to 85% of diseases early for every employee, bending the cost curve for Chubb Workplace Benefits clients! Together, we are delivering a new era of personalized prevention to employees and their families.

Need a loan? There's a $330 BILLION credit gap in Africa, according to the IFC. But why is lending so hard? Poor credit infrastructure? Low trust? Inability to repay? Unwillingness to pay? All of the above? In today's episode of The Flip, I ask these questions to two seasoned fintech founders: Chijioke Dozie - Co-founder & CEO of Carbon Mark Straub - CEO of Smile ID (formerly Smile Identity) This conversation was recorded live from the Financial Technology Partners / FT Partners Fintech in Africa Summit in NYC in March 2024. I've left the link in the comments below to watch/listen to the full episode ⬇️

Interested in the future of investing in the modern data stack? I recently had the pleasure of talking with my good friend, Jake Yormak, co-founder and Managing Partner at Story Ventures, an early-stage firm based in NYC. They focus on companies in the modern data stack, with notable investments like Petal, Particle Health, and viaPhoton. In our conversation, Jake discusses his transition from law to venture capital, the intricacies of working with his brother Brian, and the firm's concentrated investment strategy. He shares invaluable lessons learned from their first fund, emphasizing the uncompromising demand for excellence in founders. We also discuss the nuances of hardware vs. software investments, the state of the VC market, and why computer vision is poised to unlock immense value in the future. Jake's perspective on the evolving landscape of AI and proprietary data is truly eye-opening. Catch our conversation on Episode 437 of TFR. Link to episode: https://lnkd.in/gq4ADbXx

Prism Data's CashScore and Insights are now available directly through Plaid's consumer reporting agency, Plaid Check! This is an essential and significant step towards modernizing credit scoring with open banking and cash flow underwriting. Congrats to our partners at Plaid Check on today's big announcement.

Thank you, Kim Souza. Kim & her team at Talk Business & Politics, Northwest Arkansas's leading publication on Business & Supply Chain, recently featured bops and our innovative approach to redefining how suppliers and retailers collaborate to avoid out-of-stocks and excess inventory. A special recognition for the team at Coty, including DeAnna Boren and Todd Harbour, for their support. __ 📎 Read the full article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eDWyVBFB __ As we've seen, severe tornados have ravaged the Northwest Arkansas community over the past couple of days. While our thoughts are with those affected by this tragedy, we have no doubt that this resilient community will come back even stronger. __ #CPFR #CPG #Bentonville

We are thrilled to announce that we've reached a milestone of 2,000 patients! Thank you to our incredible team and amazing patients for trusting us on this journey. Together, we're making strides towards healthier, happier futures for all mothers and babies. Here's to many more milestones and continued success! #DelfinaCare

Cash flow underwriting is one of the hottest topics in financial services, and much has been said about it in recent years. But with a lack of publicly available data, these conversations have been largely theoretical…until now. With nearly a decade of experience in this space, Prism Data has amassed what is perhaps the largest and most representative data set anywhere demonstrating the efficacy of cash flow underwriting. This spring, we gave Alex Johnson of Fintech Takes unprecedented access to our actual performance data to shed quantitative light on this important topic. In some instances this proved what cash flow underwriting proponents have long expected; in others, the data yielded surprising new insights: 🎯 Prism Data’s market-leading CashScore is highly predictive of credit default risk and can reliably “rank order” borrowers, including those with low or no credit history. ⚖️ On a standalone basis, CashScore is just as effective as a traditional FICO or Vantage score. 🚀 When combined with traditional scores, CashScore adds material predictive lift - it is “orthogonal” to traditional analysis across the entire credit spectrum. 🏆 Cash flow underwriting can be used to increase access to credit and lower instances of credit default - a rare win-win for lenders and consumers alike. If you’re curious about cash flow underwriting I strongly encourage you to check out Alex’s excellent article linked below. And if you’re ready to incorporate cash flow underwriting into your business like so many others are doing now, it’s time to get in touch with us at Prism Data!

I am so excited to share that Teacher Career Coach has been acquired by Aspireship! First, the why. My family has been going through an extremely difficult time due to serious health complications with our twins. Raising two babies, juggling multiple doctors weekly, and running a demanding business has become far too much. As much as I wanted to be a superwoman who could handle it all, I knew I had to practice what I preach and do what was best for my family. However, I wanted to make sure all of you - who have become like my second family - were well taken care of. I’m extremely protective of this audience, and I needed whoever took over to be trustworthy and experienced. I knew Aspireship was the perfect company to support this community while preserving the integrity of what we’ve built. One of the most trusted names in upskilling and reskilling, Aspireship has become a corporate go-to for many companies internal training programs. In addition to this, many of our former teachers have taken Aspireship's program to help them decide between (and upskill for) customer success, marketing, and sales roles. They have continually been huge advocates for Teacher Career Coach, amplifying our company to get featured in the WSJ in one of the first stories about companies hiring teachers. And of course they get some bonus points from me for hiring a former teacher, Elizabeth Suto, after she discovered them on a Teacher Career Coach Podcast episode! I was delighted when their CEO, Corey Kossack, told me the feeling was mutual. So what does this mean for you? The Teacher Career Coach resources, including our course that has helped thousands of teachers transition, will remain! It means more deep dives into customer success, sales, and marketing roles from an extremely qualified team. It also means The Teacher Career Coach Podcast will be relaunched (date TBD) with a new host, and discounts for those from our audience who want to take Aspireship. And last, but not least, this acquisition is connected to something even bigger that will impact how the youth of America prepares to embark on their careers. What does this mean for me? I will be working with Aspireship as a consultant behind the scenes. It’s not the last you hear from me - but their team will be taking the reins from here on out. Thank you for your trust and for five incredible years. I never could have dreamed of how many people Teacher Career Coach would have impacted. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for all of us. ❤️ ✨

We’re excited to share two major company announcements: 1️⃣ Don Weinstein, ADP’s former Chief Product & Technology Officer, is joining Summer as our Chief Innovation Officer. Don's decades of leadership in driving tech innovation for over 1 million employers will be invaluable. He will work with us closely to continue building cutting-edge solutions for HCMs, recordkeepers, employers, and their employees. 2️⃣ We’re proud to introduce Summer’s Advisory Board of HR leaders: 1) Joe Bosch, Former CHRO of DIRECTV & Tenet Healthcare  2) Mike Clementi, CHRO of PetVet Care Centers & Former CHRO of Unilever 3) Dr. Grace Ingram, DHSc, CWWS, HR leader for City of Alexandria, Virginia 4) Dermot O'Brien, Former CHRO of ADP & TIAA 5) Cindy Kay Olson, Founder & CEO of Executive Strategic Alliance, LLC 6) Margaret (Maggie) Ruvoldt, CHRO of LEARN Behavioral 7) Mike T., EVP & CHRO of Albertsons Companies 8) Katie Watson, Former CHRO of Solidigm & Gilead Sciences The insights from these advisors will help guide our strategy as we solve the challenges that employers and their employees face with student debt, education costs, and other pressing financial concerns. Read more on the blog: https://lnkd.in/dVay2wtZ