Ulu Ventures

Leadsales targets LatAm businesses with conversational commerce tool for WhatsApp

The conversational commerce company developed a customer relationship management tool that provides customizable columns and sales funnel automation for sales made via WhatsApp and other social media.

Irrigreen’s precision sprinklers prevent water waste and wet legs

Investors just pumped millions into Irrigreen, a startup vying to quench America’s thirsty lawns with “approximately 50% less water.” Seed investor Ulu led the $15 million funding ro

Why this consumer investor is switching VC firms after making partner last year

Maria Salamanca, one of the few Latina investors at a partner level within the often homogenous world of venture capital, is shaking things up. The investor tells TechCrunch that she is leaving Unshac

Pastel, a Nigerian bookkeeping and digital platform for merchants, raises $5.5M led by TLcom

There’s no end to digitizing the operations of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the traditional retail sector across sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria alone, this industry, worth more than $200 bi

Sika lets patients ‘hack’ their health savings accounts to buy wellness products tax-free

What if you could buy a Peloton with pre-tax dollars? How about vitamins and supplements? Skincare products? Or even mattresses and massages? All of those may likely qualify as purchases you could mak

FarmRaise aims to become a financial services giant, starting with farm grants

You have to begin somewhere. When Jayce Hafner and Sami Tellatin bonded as Stanford MBA classmates over their shared belief that helping U.S. farms run more efficiently would be good for the country a

Allocate banks $5M to open up venture capital fund access

The world of venture capital investing is a relatively small one, and family offices and accredited investors are eager to get involved, but find it difficult to access fund managers.

Meme-based dating is here: Meet Schmooze

Vidya Madhavan always wanted to be in business. Growing up in India, she thought she might be in the business of running a factory, given the power and influence of outfits like Tata Group, the Indian

Why established venture firms should court emerging managers

In a VC ecosystem that has now looked up long enough to embrace the Black Lives Matter affirmation and the diversity conversations that have followed, firms are thinking creatively about how they acce

Can a startup repair the winner-takes-all talent economy? With $8.5M, Pando wants to find out

It’s a winner-takes-all economy. More and more labor markets act as lotteries, where a couple of “superstar” workers make extremely outsized returns relative to their peers — who may well have