Cerca Secures $1.6 Million Seed Investment From Corazon Capital

Cerca (@CercaDating), a dating app founded by Myles Slayton, William Conzelman, and Carter Munk, has rapidly gained traction by facilitating connections through mutual friends rather than introducing complete strangers. Launched just three months ago, Cerca has already attracted tens of thousands of users. Most notably, the majority of Georgetown University’s undergraduates are on the platform. It is now gaining momentum in New York and expanding to new cities. This innovative approach has caught the attention of Corazon Capital—a venture firm led by dating industry veterans Sam Yagan, Phil Schwarz, and Christian Rudder—marking their first investment in a dating platform since their involvement with industry giants like OkCupid, Match Group, Tinder, and Grindr. Cerca's emphasis on shared social connections aims to foster more meaningful and accountable interactions, resonating particularly with Gen-Z users seeking alternatives to traditional swipe-based apps. FOUNDERS: Myles Slayton, William Conzelman, Carter Munk & Thatcher Shultz ROUND: Seed AMOUNT: $1,600,000 HQ: #NYC #VentureCapital #Cerca #MylesSlayton #TradedPartner #WilliamConzelman #CarterMunk #TradedVC #ThatcherShultz

More Deals

View All

Porsche Partners With Tata Consultancy On €1.25 Billion AI Transformation DealPorsche is making a €1.25 billion bet on AI. The automaker is partnering with Tata Consultancy Services on a five-year deployment spanning engineering, manufacturing, operations, and customer experience, while also selling its MHP subsidiary to TCS for €320 million. The deal includes the creation of a dedicated AI Mobility Centre of Excellence and brings MHP’s 4,500 employees into the broader TCS ecosystem. One of Europe’s most iconic industrial brands is going all-in on AI infrastructure and outsourcing part of the transformation to one of the world’s largest technology services firms. The next major AI adoption wave may not come from Silicon Valley. It may come from the world’s largest industrial companies.

Blank Street Raises $105 Million In Series B Funding Led By General AtlanticBrooklyn-based coffee chain Blank Street has raised $105 million in new funding, including a $75 million Series B led by General Atlantic and $30 million in secondary capital, valuing the company at about $650 million. The six-year-old chain, which now operates more than 100 locations, will use the fresh capital to expand into affluent parts of California, including Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Malibu, as it broadens beyond its coffee-focused roots into an all-day brand centered on coffee, matcha, snacks and ice cream. FOUNDERS: Issam Freiha & Vinay Menda INVESTORS: General Atlantic, Left Lane Capital, General Catalyst & Tiger Global ROUND: Series B AMOUNT: $105,000,000 VALUATION: $650,000,000 HQ: Brooklyn, New York #VentureCapital #BlankStreet #IssamFreiha #VinayMenda #TradedVC

Micron Technology Launches $250 Million Venture Fund To Support AI StartupsMicron Technology has launched a $250 million Micron Ventures Paradigm Fund, its third and largest venture fund, bringing its total venture capital commitment to $550 million. The fund will back startups across AI model architecture, data infrastructure, in-memory computing, networking, enterprise AI and robotics, alongside Micron’s separate $10 billion, decade-long research initiative modeled after Bell Labs; CEO Sanjay Mehrotra announced both efforts as part of the company’s push to make memory a core pillar of AI infrastructure. FOUNDERS: Ward Parkinson, Joe Parkinson, Dennis Wilson and Doug Pitman AMOUNT: $250,000,000 HQ: Boise, Idaho #VentureCapital #MicronTechnology #MicronVenturesParadigmFund #TradedVC