#Accelerant Series by Jim Robinson

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Future Capital Enables A Diverse Cohort Of Investor To Close The Funding Gap

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Future Capital Enables A Diverse Cohort Of Investor To Close The Funding Gap

Marlon Thompson, Founder, Future Capital

2020 is the year when events have altered our view of society and has accelerated substantive change. The pandemic sounded the alarms to the systemic racism and social injustices in the disparate treatment that has plagued the Black community in the wake of George Floyd. It’s also surfaced the disproportionate access of minority and economically disadvantaged communities to resources. This moment in history has become the catalyst that has brought an urgency to remedy these problems now.

Marlon Thompson, Founder of Future Capital understands this is a crucial time to create lasting change by enabling and equipping a new cohort of investors: minorities, women, and LGBTQ with the necessary tools to bolster economic empowerment.

Thompson is an angel investor, a startup founder and has long been an advocate for diversity in business. He has spent the past 4 years creating pathways to success for underrepresented leaders in the startup ecosystem.

This data is not new. Public information on the funding gap has presented the same grim picture for years. According to Rate My Investor Between 2013 and 2017, 77 percent of venture-backed founders were white while 1% were black. Only 0.2 percent of these venture-backed companies were led by black women. In addition, less than 1% of US funds went to LGBTQ leaders. According to Black.VC as of 2018, 81 percent of VC firms have no black founders.

In July, 2020 a public spreadsheet was released that listed black founders who received VC backing. The updated list includes 173 companies. However, the data showed that while a large number of VC firms have invested in black-founder startups, 75% had only one Black founder investment. James Norman, in concert with Transparent Collective, who helped compile the list stressed,

“That most VC firms on the list of groups that put capital into a single Black-founded startup highlights the lack of capital deployed to Black-founded startups in general”

Thompson has developed and run diversity initiatives supporting founders and investors at an accelerator and venture capital space. For him, all of this adds up to a damaging gap in the amount of available funding for startup founders who are not white and who are not male.

“The funding that a startup receives in the first 10 years of its life can directly affect the company’s chances at succeeding long-term. It’s no wonder that a host of underrepresented leaders in the venture capital community have challenged this seemingly relentless tilt towards a single demographic.

I believe the root of this revolving door of lookalike founders is the insular nature of the venture capital community. Investors are inherently motivated, financially and socially, to close deals with members in their immediate networks. This is based on conscious and unconscious biases that create significant disadvantages to large swaths of the business community. Whether they’re intended, these biases create barriers to entry that disproportionately affect minority founders.”

This has been perpetuated for many years. Thompson points to the fact that prior to 2020, the quest for diversity in the VC world has become a micro-industry in and of itself.

“Before 2020, you could count on one hand the number of funds over $50Million devoted to underrepresented founders. Following the protests in response to the killing of George Floyd earlier this year, venture firms scrambled to find ways to support black founders. Despite its reactive nature, this wave of attention and support for minorities in venture capital has opened a unique window of opportunity for the demographics in the venture industry to shift in a meaningful and permanent way.”

The lack of founder diversity in start-up technology also contributes to this funding gap. Thompson points to a study by First Round that illuminates Silicon Valley’s influence: the “halo” effect with founders who have worked from Google, Apple, Facebook, MS or Amazon will more likely land “pre-money valuations 50% higher than their peers”. In addition, where you go to school matters: the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Caltech. However, as Thompson points out, for black students or women, none of these universities fall within the top 5 engineering schools.

The funding gap is rooted in history.  Brookings Institute uncovered the “networth of white American families to be 10 times that of black families” that originated from historic discrimination emanating from the nation’s 200 years of slavery thru to “Jim Crow laws and the establishment of Black Codes” that further disenfranchised the black population and enforced racial segregation in the southern US for over a century. Further, through geographical redlining, where minority communities with historically higher mortgage defaults, experienced disproportionate access to government services and basic access to housing, employment and credit. Because of the historical oppression, it is less likely a black founder will have the initial capital to invest through family wealth.

Thompson contends that this unfair advantage sets the stage for perpetuation of practices based on a default to what’s familiar. Track records continue to play a significant role in start-up success. Because early-stage companies do not have history to build investor confidence comfortably, investors will likely bet on repeat founders, and investor referrals, even though the data indicates repeat founders don’t necessarily perform better.

“Securing capital is a matter of life and death for a startup at series A or earlier, which means the decision makers in the early-stage ecosystem have the power to decide which startups make it past the initial stages. The decision-making circles are growing, but they are still small enough to disproportionately cut out entire demographics from the leaderboard in venture capital.”

What is required is combining visibility with decision-making power.  Thompson references the term, “diversity theater”  from investor, Elliott Robinson, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, who lamented about the lack of real intention:

“Too often, he said, diversity initiatives serve the firm’s public image, without actually helping black founders, and only come after something tragic has happened to the black community.”

Thompson states, the energy and attention towards diversity in 2020 is positive, which has produced a new wave of research, publicity and commitments from the public and private sector. But increasing mind share is just the beginning. He noted the importance of being cautious when we experience a false sense of completion or progress that these public displays may create.

Whether this trend towards investment in diverse founders is fortuitous or here to stay, is still to be determined. Softbank’s launched their $100M fund  and Andreeson Horowitz’s launch of the $2.2M  Talent Opportunity X Fund for minority owned businesses will set the stage to give greater access, but, as Thompson notes, this is still a drop in the bucket for these private equity giants.

“Respectfully, SoftBank’s $100 billion dollar Vision Fund has sunk more into individual founders than the entire amount of the SB Opportunity Fund and Andreeson has $14 billion dollars under management making the Talent and Opportunity fund less than 1% of their entire investment capacity.”

The missing piece of the puzzle to create a more sustainable market for venture capital investment in diversity is a move away from current investment structures – structures created and defined by the Silicon Valley elite. Thompson has an alternative path,

“It’s evident there is limited space for diverse founders within the existing venture capital structure. It would be misguided for founders to walk away from the money and deep talent pools that large, traditional firms can provide, however we have to create new, self-sustaining networks in venture capital to see lasting, and irreversible change. The current structures are not impenetrable, but this issue must be tackled from every angle.

Nurturing a new, more diverse cohort of investors at every level will initiate renewable solutions to venture capital’s diversity problem. We’ve developed a strong, repeatable framework at Future Capital to do just that. We focus on four core tenets that enable highly-skilled leaders from diverse backgrounds to put their thumb on the scale: investment education, direct investing, new network creation and finding the right vehicle customized to the needs of the investor.”

Future Capital aims to demystify the process to teach new and aspiring investors the stages of investing, while they build their personal investment strategy. They are then fast-tracked into deals and onto the cap table by matching them with the right opportunities. Overtime, this builds a powerful network of visible minority investors that work alongside funds, syndicates and angel groups.

We believe that more diversity at the LP, angel and syndicate levels will all contribute to the expansion of the influence of minority investors that will cascade to influence this domino effect towards economic empowerment in these communities. The ultimate goal is to put decisions into the hands of a more representative group of investors and business leaders for the benefit of everyone.

For Thompson, the path to build Future Capital came out of a desire to bring the familiar to an industry he loved.

“I started Future Capital because I didn’t find anyone that was like me in my industry. As a proud member of the LGTB community and a visible minority, my trajectory into the space always felt implausible to me. After working with some of the top investors and founders in Canada, I realized that my indirect path in venture capital was a common one. With Future Capital, I want to improve the likelihood for minorities to succeed in the venture capital space by increasing their visibility and their capacity to have a substantive contribution.”

What the company provides to emerging cohort of minority investors is an accessible pathway towards investment education, access to an emerging network of highly-skilled leaders, and access to deal pipelines and investment opportunities.

Through this venture, Thompson is betting on activating a completely new cohort of leaders on an alternative asset that will change the way they understand business.  Future Capital will lay the infrastructure to enable self-sustaining networks that breed diversity at multiple levels: among founders, fund managers, general partners, angel investors and board members, among others.  Finally, they will track their progress and contribute to the mounting evidence that shows that investing in diversity yields better business returns.

For Thompson, he has set his sights fairly high but he is optimistic:

Venture capital is one of the last industries to mandate diversity, but it could be the first to develop a sustainable model for permanent change. Female founders typically outperform all male teams by 60%. The numbers in venture capital are so low, that we don’t yet know what the potential of a consolidated, genuinely diverse cohort of investors could be. I not only want to find out, I want to contribute to the much-needed change. The sky’s the limit on this one!

From AI in Perfectirishgifts

[itsworn]

Funny Cars, Can-Am, Trans-Am, And Women Racers Emerge In 1966

Let us count the ways that this season may well be the most significant in the history of United States auto racing. Take stock cars: NASCAR was boycotted by Chrysler in 1965 for banning the Hemi, and now by Ford for saddling overhead-camshaft 427 Galaxies with 427 prohibitive extra pounds that effectively extended the previous year’s Cammer ban. USAC imposed the same weight penalty. With Ford gone from both circuits and GM continuing its all-encompassing motorsports ban for a fourth year, factory-backed Plymouths and Dodges ran wild, combining to win 34 of 49 Grand National events and all 15 USAC races. Spectator attendance consequently suffered from early April until the factory Fords reappeared on Labor Day weekend, still wedge-powered but newly enhanced by a Ford-only exemption permitting dual four-barrels.

Ford enjoyed smoother sailing in USAC’s premier open-wheel division, where the small-block Indy V8 accelerated its displacement of Offys. Twenty-four of 33 Indy 500 starters sported Fords this year, including winner Graham Hill and the next three finishers. (Yes, the company’s GT40s also finished one-two-three and dethroned Ferrari at Le Mans, but HRD’s Power Struggles series is all about America.)

Meanwhile, road racing was booming with the creation of two crowd-pleasing SCCA categories: a professional, run-what-ya-brung class called Can-Am, complemented by a Trans-Am series starring domestic ponycars and compacts. The Chevrolet propulsion of Jim Hall’s independent Chaparrals was a rare bright spot in the darkness of GM’s extended absence.

Drag racing was rocked like never before by two major movements: floppers and females. Less than two years after the Dodge Chargers introduced late-model production cars to Top Gas Dragster horsepower, Mercury commissioned a fleet of purpose-built Logghe frames to accept one-piece, lift-off replicas of ’66 Comet sheetmetal. This was also the season in which NHRA tested separate “exhibition-stocker” classes at selected events, following an example set by the American Hot Rod Association and many independent promoters. Four short years since Carol Cox pressured NHRA into letting women drive stockers, Shirley Shahan won Super Stock Eliminator at the Winternationals, while Barbara Hamilton and Paula Murphy won long-sought licenses to drive blown-gas coupes and blown-fuel Funny Cars, respectively.

Documenting this unprecedented activity and filling ever-growing numbers of Petersen publications and pages demanded considerably more black-and-white film than before. From more than 100,000 individual negatives processed by the company’s in-house lab during 1966, we’ve prioritized archive images that were rejected by contemporary HOT ROD, Motor Trend, and Car Craft editors. Benefitting from more than half a century of 20/20 hindsight, and freedom from our editorial ancestors’ responsibility to deliver the latest news and top performers, we strive instead to provide pictorial context for the times, along with information that has surfaced since. Besides, previously published photos and detailed results from most of the meets on these pages are easily found in the digital HRM back issues now accessible via Club.HotRod.com.

The trail of oil and engine shrapnel signify the messy end of a hot roadster’s power struggle, at least for this weekend. Staff photographer Pat Brollier stopped the action before vulnerable March Meet fans could react to the spinout.

Picture By: Pat Brollier

The two Robert E. Petersens, Sr. and Jr., enjoyed NASCAR’s season opener from the start-finish line of Riverside International Raceway. The Motor Trend founder (1949) and publisher was a part owner of the long-defunct facility. Also pictured (right) is Pat O’Rourke, who managed Petersen Publishing’s special events department. Bobby and little brother Richie, the only children of Pete and wife Margie, perished in a plane crash the day after Christmas, 1975.

SoCal NASCAR fans cheered the return of Curtis Taylor, whose 1961 “lifetime” ban (for attempting to organize a drivers’ union) had been lifted in mid-’65 by Big Bill France. The colorful veteran led 27 laps of the Motor Trend 500 and finished fourth after emergency fender work by the Wood brothers. After Ford pulled its seven factory teams this spring, Curtis started driving independent Chevys for Smokey Yunick (including the controversial Chevelle that earned the pole for the 1967 Daytona 500—as we’ll see in the next installment of Power Struggles).

Connie Kalitta (left), the first drag racer to develop the SOHC 427 designed for stock-car racing, visited factory teammate Mario Andretti at Riverside. USAC’s defending champ-car champion qualified a wedge-head Galaxie 25th and finished a respectable 16th (of 44 starters) despite crashing out of his first NASCAR event with 31 laps remaining.

January’s historic debut of drag racing’s second lift-off, fiberglass, full-fendered body (reportedly inspired two years earlier by Jim Lytle’s ’34 Tudor, Big Al) was as spectacular as it was controversial. After a soft checkout pass of 10.08/155.70 during AHRA’s Winter Championships, its front latch failed at approximately 130 mph and launched the shell high above Irwindale (California) Raceway. Don Nicholson went on to dominate “exhibition stocker” competition in 1966-1967, ultimately dipping deep into the sevens, unblown on 80-percent nitro. This Logghe-chassised lightweight weighed just 1,680 pounds—about 500 fewer than Dyno Don’s steel ’65 SOHC Comet.

After the Adams, Wayre & Mulligan fueler (background) won its semifinal match but lost the engine, Jimmy Nix offered his healthy 392 for AHRA’s Top Fuel showdown. A muscular makeshift crew that included Mickey Thompson performed a 30-minute transplant concluding with a successful push start of John Mulligan—who never made it to the starting line. The driver’s decision to “clean off” the slicks enroute produced a stuck throttle, a low-speed crash, and the biggest win of fellow-finalist Bob Hightower’s career. Gene Adams and his mortally wounded bullet are seen in Car Craft staffer Bud Lang’s classic composition (center right), along with observers Art Chrisman, Don Prudhomme, Keith Black, and Pete Robinson (along fence).

In just the fifth year that NHRA allowed female participation, a mother of three made history on an 11.26/126.75 trophy dash in Top Stock Eliminator at the Winternationals. “Few, if any, drivers have ever received the cheering and ‘moral support’ that Shirley enjoyed as she crossed that finish line and the win light flashed in her lane,” reported Dick Wells in the May ’66 HRM. “The cheering and applause were deafening.” She also held both ends of both the NHRA and Standard 1,320 records for Super Stock/Automatic.

Following frustrating runner-up finishes at the previous Hot Rod Magazine meet and AHRA’s recent season opener, Shirley and hubby H.L. Shahan finally found the winner’s circle at Pomona. NHRA president Wally Parks offered congratulations and what looks like a check.

Yes, the Swamp Rat went north to Motor City, briefly. Before the end of summer, Don and Pat Garlits were back home in Florida. The couple cited Michigan’s winter, higher shop overhead, and the recent deaths of two parents for the move. Mike Sorokin (right) happened to be walking past when Bob D’Olivo stopped to shoot the firesuit.

After sitting out NASCAR’s previous season to drag race during Bill France’s Hemi ban, perhaps Richard Petty was sending someone a message by donning an NHRA hat in the Daytona 500 winner’s circle. Behind him is National Speed Sport News editor and TV commentator Chris Economaki.

Without ever competing in the circular arena for which it was designed and built (all in 90 days), Ford’s overhead-camshaft 427 was the most controversial racing engine in America—if not the whole world—for two years. Seeking acceptance following 1965’s superspeedway ban, Ford invited NASCAR and USAC officials to the assembly line to demonstrate that Cammers were now optionally available for an amount between $995 or $1,995 (published accounts vary) to anyone ordering a ’66 Galaxie—the first of which was delivered to astronaut Gordon Cooper, according to CC (June ’66). SOHC Galaxies were also displayed at car shows. Meanwhile, rumors of a dual-overhead-cam 426 Hemi leaked out of Chrysler, undoubtedly terrifying rulemakers. Both stock-car organizations finally relented in March, but imposed a common OHC weight minimum of 10.36 pounds per cubic inch (vs. 9.36 for conventional, cam-in-block engines) that would’ve pushed a Galaxie’s racing weight well past two tons, to 4,425. Ford engineers protested that the additional 427 pounds would excessively punish tires and, thus, endanger drivers. Following two weeks of intense negotiations, the guy whose name was on the building personally announced a total withdrawal from all forms of late-model-stock-car racing. Henry Ford II’s boycott lasted from mid-April until Labor Day weekend.

When the Hemis returned to Daytona, their Holley carbs were sunken into these odd manifolds. While Chrysler officially attributed the deep design to hood-clearance issues, its “ram-boost effect” reportedly added fully 50 hp coming off of superspeedway turns.

We can see where the Cammers wound up: in the dragsters and “exhibition stockers” backed by Ford and Mercury. Old pro Jack Chrisman, whose stock-bodied ’64 Comet introduced the planet to blown-fuel Funny Cars, was photographed making shakedown runs in this flip-top replacement during a private Irwindale session. Car Craft‘s cameras followed the short-lived GT-1 Comet literally from cradle to grave, starting in the Logghe brothers’s chassis shop and ending at York U.S. 30 Dragway, where the world’s fastest “stocker” (184.42 mph) crashed and burned during July’s Super Stock Nationals.

Big Daddy’s brief dalliance with full-fendered fuelers began with a homebuilt Dart that Connie Swingle crashed. It was replaced by this similar steel car, the former Dodge Charger built and initially campaigned for Chrysler by subcontractor Dick Branstner (who previously delivered the Little Red Wagon). Rather than sliding front and rear axles forward, as per prevailing trends, Branstner moved the rearend back to accommodate a midmounted 426 fuel motor. When Branstner closed his shop, Dodge reassigned this car to Garlits, who gave it white paint, giant polka dots, and a cute name. However, promoters resisted booking something called the Polka-Dart, so Garlits reverted to basic Swamp Rat Black. Before Emery Cook flipped the car, its ability to repeatedly run 170-plus inspired Maynard Rupp to adopt a similar floor plan for his Chevoom Chevelle.

Offy diehards included young Bruce Crower, who built a blown 168-incher for one of the nine Drake-Offy entries at Indy (three-each normally aspirated, supercharged, turbocharged).

For the second time in three years, a spectacular, multicar mishap marred the start of an Indy 500—and chief PPC photographer Bob D’Olivo was again perfectly positioned to record the carnage. Sixteen cars failed to clear the first bend. Eleven of those suffered irreparable damage, costing the race a third of its field. Unlike in the previous pile-up (as seen in Part 10 of Power Struggles, May ’17), none of the affected drivers was injured seriously, despite the 140-mph pace. Safety equipment mandated after Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs died here was widely credited. Winner Graham Hill remains the only driver to earn auto racing’s triple crown: Indy, Le Mans, and—depending on competing definitions of the third leg—winning either Monaco or a Formula One championship. (Amazingly, he did both.)

Along with the sole front-motored starter, the hope of untold millions of fans worldwide was crushed mere seconds into the Indy 500. Herb Porter’s mighty turbocharged Offy qualified “The Dinosaur” quite respectably at 158.367, but sprint-car-champ Bobby Grim was unable to avoid spinning competitors on the first lap.

Talkin’ ’bout power struggles, you can almost hear this doodle bug begging for mercy under load. Anyone exposed to a TV set between 1959 and January 16, 1973, should recognize Hoss Cartwright, the biggest brother on Bonanza. Actor Dan Blocker was also a serious gearhead whose significant hardware at this time ranged from one of the first big-block Chevelles to the road-race Huffaker that competed in two Can-Am races this inaugural season. This candid shot on the show’s set is an outtake from a photo session that landed Hoss and his Huffaker Genie the cover story in Petersen’s June ’66 Sports Car Graphic.

Accelerated potash mining was suspected as the cause of this worrisome scene. HOT ROD dispatched Technical Editor Jim McFarland to Utah this June, ahead of the annual Bonneville Nationals, to meet with Kaiser Chemical Co. geological engineers who insisted that the firm had hot rodders’ interests at heart (Sept. ’66 HRM).

Oldsmobile was represented at Pikes Peak by two front-wheel-drive Toronados, of all things. Defending-champ Nick Sanborn (shown) repeated in the stock-car class, while 70-year-old Louie Unser manhandled the other heavyweight to fourth despite pitching its power-steering belt near the start.

A single blurry frame on an otherwise-sharp film roll suggests that ace-photog Pat Brollier was simultaneously snapping his shutter and fleeing for his life during AHRA’s Nationals. Note that brave Bob Muravez (a.k.a. Floyd Lippencott Jr.) has expertly adjusted the steering angle for his return to earth. Lightening up the engine area of this scan reveals the injector on Don Johnson’s wayward fueler to be in the WFO position.

Emery Cook’s recent 200-flat at St. Petersburg’s Sunshine Dragway and subsequent 198 at Cecil County in the third Garlits Dart empowered his boss to claim credit for officially breaking the double-century barrier with both a fueler (1964) and, now, a “stocker.” Promoters loved the concept until leading Funny Car racers turned down bookings to match-race what they accurately derided as “a double-A/Fuel Dragster, only shorter.” Ironically, its round-tube frame, severe engine setback, deep roll cage, dragster tires, and unsuspended rearend all pointed to modern Funny Car construction. The controversial, unrestored roadster remains a popular attraction at the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Florida.

Veteran driver Emery Cook (left) and spectators alike were disappointed by officials’ refusal to let the radical roadster challenge the tube-framed, fiberglass-bodied, factory-backed fuel floppers at the NHRA Nationals. Consequently, Mercury’s slower (8.2-second) Comets had no serious competition in the new Super/Experimental Stock class.

Becoming the only car to win both of NHRA’s oldest national events two years straight obviously didn’t earn the Hawaiian any special pit space. One year after Don Prudhomme won the Winternationals and Nationals, Mike Snively repeated at both Pomona and Indy for (from left) engine-builder Keith Black, owner Roland Leong, and crewman Danny Broussard. Their Chrysler Marine Performance apparel signified KB’s recent appointment as the national supplier of boat-racing engines and parts. Back home in L.A., Snively recorded unreal 7-teens at nearly 216 mph before the end of this season.

By the time HRM’s cover blurb asked the question, “Should Women Drive Fuel Cars?” (Mar. ’67), Paula Murphy had answered convincingly with match-race success in “Fat Jack” Bynum’s 392-powered, all-plastic Mustang (note functional driver’s door). As Miss STP reminded the magazine, she’d already experienced 243.44 mph in a jet car at Bonneville.

It’s easy to see why Chaparral drivers Jim Hall and Hap Sharp enjoyed a performance advantage over the wingless competition in the inaugural Canadian-American Challenge Cup Series. Automatic transmissions freed their left feet to operate the wing and a front spoiler simultaneously, increasing the angle to improve braking and grip in turns. Although reliability issues precluded the Chaparrals from repeating their 1965 SCCA and USRRC domination, Hall set track records at four of Can-Am’s six events. Motor Trend‘s season recap (Feb. ’67) credited the new “Formula Libre” (i.e., run-what-ya-brung) series for creating unprecedented sporty-car interest, attracting approximately 250,000 spectators this first year.

Another new series was SCCA’s Trans-American Sedan Championship, divided between four-seat, mostly stock vehicles displacing over and under two liters (2,000cc). Wheelbase was limited to 111 or fewer inches. Any engine component available over dealers’ parts counters was permitted. Small-block Mustangs, Darts, Falcons, and Barracudas contested the upper division, along with at least one Corvair. Going into this seventh, final event at Riverside International Raceway, Ford and Chrysler products were tied in manufacturer points. Jerry Titus clinched the title for Ford by winning the season finale in a notchback Mustang prepared by Shelby.

Art Arfons added a second set of rear wheels for what proved to be his best, last shot at regaining the unlimited land speed record from arch-rival Craig Breedlove (600.601) in November. The 7,300-pound Green Monster came close, clocking 585.366 and 589.597 in the measured mile and kilometer, respectively, before veering off-course and crashing.

Ak Miller, Art Chrisman, Autolite’s Danny Eames, famed Indy-car mechanic Chickie Hirashima, and Mario Andretti teamed up to drop a 255-inch Ford Indy engine into a basically stock fastback for a run at 200 mph during the private Bonneville timing session scheduled by Arfons and two streamliner teams. After successfully setting both D/Production Sedan FIA records at 136.645 (standing kilometer) and 150.134 (standing five-mile), they tipped the can for back-to-back nitromethanated blasts of 171 and 175 before a burned piston ended the outing. From start to finish, the ambitious project spanned just 34 days in late October and early November.

Having neglected boat racing throughout this series, we’ll take this opportunity to show Dave Zeuschel lighting off one of his signature stroker motors at Long Beach. Just guessing, that distinctive injector scoop looks a lot like the one atop customer Jimmy Nix’s slingshot fueler. This roll of 120-format film was one of the last submitted by HRM’s Eric Rickman for processing this year (Dec. 19). Whether “Rick” or another photographer attached and operated the radio-triggered camera (right) remains a mystery, since we’ve found no matching photos in the Petersen archive.

The post Funny Cars, Can-Am, Trans-Am, And Women Racers Emerge In 1966 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/funny-cars-can-trans-women-racers-emerge-1966-2/ via IFTTT

[martechadvisor-blog]

PebblePost Secures $15 Million Series B Funding; RRE Ventures Leads Round

New York, NY: PebblePost®, the inventor of Programmatic Direct Mail®, today announced it has secured a $15 Million Series B round, led by RRE Ventures, with existing investors Greycroft and Tribeca Venture Partners, and additional seed funds and strategic angels also contributing to the round. The investment will be used to support strong demand for PebblePost's Programmatic Direct Mail® solutions and the company's infrastructure growth and market expansion. In addition, Jim Robinson, Managing Partner at RRE Ventures will be joining PebblePost's Board of Directors.

At founding, PebblePost created Programmatic Direct Mail® as the first new marketing channel since search and social. PebblePost's always-on platform solves the many challenges that digital marketers face, specifically, viewability, fraud, disruption of the user experience and ad blocking.

"PebblePost's sales, client satisfaction, innovation, strength of management and expansion lead the market and we are excited to further accelerate even more rapid growth and success," said Jim Robinson, Managing Partner at RRE Ventures. "I have tremendous respect for Lewis, the other board members, and what the team at PebblePost is doing. I'm looking forward to working with them."

"We are thrilled by the reception to Programmatic Direct Mail®," said PebblePost CEO, Lewis Gersh. "Our solution combines the best of both worlds -- digital's real-time interest and intent data and direct mail's physical media into home. The raise will accelerate our infrastructure buildout to better serve our customers, and enhance our product offerings as we help digital marketers turn their data assets into real results. We are also delighted to welcome Jim to our board of directors and are proud to be included in RRE Venture's impressive portfolio of category-defining companies. RRE Ventures has championed innovative companies in their growth toward market disruption and dominance for more than 20 years."

PebblePost plans to use the round to expand the reach and presence of its new marketing channel beyond retail, into other consumer sectors and B2B where marketers struggle to address and convert audiences. The company will also continue to innovate its 1:1 personalized Programmatic Catalog™ product announced last Fall, in addition to launching more channel partnerships with email service providers, e-commerce engines, and CRM platforms.

The company has also expanded its footprint in the US by adding a San Francisco office and growing its team, including the recent hire of Marita Scarfi (formerly of 72andSunny) as CFO and Head of West Coast Operations.

Fenwick & West LLP provided legal counsel on the round.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor

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