## ✨ DTC brands pitch their company in two minutes at [Mercury's](https://mercury.com) first-ever [Raise DTC](https://mercury.com/raise/dtc)

### **⚙️ How it works**

- Brands **[apply for Raise DTC](https://airtable.com/shrPI30aPkwr82Am8)** by **March 11** (Know  any brands you think should apply? Send them our way ⬆️).
- We'll pick six companies, share them with our pitch-day judges, and send them to our investor network.
- Six companies will each get two minutes to pitch live on **March 29**, followed by a Q&A from our panel of experienced judges.
- Sign up to watch live on Stonks _or_ register as an investor and fund the brands you like in real-time (or follow up with them after the event).

### **📣 Meet our judges**

✨ **Kevin Hartz** is a three-time founder and CEO, including PayPal-acquired Xoom and Eventbrite. He is currently a co-founder and general partner at VC firm A*, which has backed startups like StockX, BeautyLish, Airbnb, Opensea, and Pinterest. He’s also an early investor in companies like Uber, Trulia, Figs, Hubble, and Recharge.

✨ **Lauren Picasso** is Founder & CEO of Cure, a VC-backed functional hydration brand launched in 2019. She was an early employee and Director of Marketing at [Jet.com](http://jet.com/), acquired by Walmart for $3.3B. She was also an early hire at Rent the Runway and and has worked for Google, Bloomingdale’s, and Ralph Lauren.

✨ **Philip Krim** is the co-founder and former CEO of Casper. He’s also the founder and managing director of Montauk Ventures, where he’s invested in companies like ThredUp, Ephemeral, Yumi, Reddit, and Affirm.

✨ **Jason Wong** is the founder of Pughaus, a DTC brand incubator with portfolio brands like Doe Lashes, Nectar Hard Seltzer, Kaja Beauty, I Dew Care, and Postscript. He teaches classes on building successful brands from scratch and is passionate about bringing culture, commerce, and innovation from Asia to the world.

✨ **Immad Akhund** is a serial founder and seed investor. Previously, he was a part-time partner at Y Combinator, and founded Heyzap (acquired) and Clickpass (acquired). He’s also an investor in 200+ startups, including Nurx, Shogun, AirTable, Rappi, and Substack. He’s raising his daughters to be Catan masters.

## **Q&A**

**What kind of brands will be at Raise DTC?**

Seed-stage direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands from around the world looking to raise up to $5M

**What's the selection process?**

Our team will pick the brands most prepared to raise their seed round, based on your branding, product team, and any growth/metrics you can show.

**Why is Mercury doing this?**

Our mission is to empower entrepreneurs. DTC brands need capital and mentorship to scale and disrupt incumbents, but it isn’t easy to find resources to support this growth. [Raise DTC](https://mercury.com/raise/dtc)  empowers founders who are building the next generation of consumer brands with an investor pipeline, distribution channels, and a community of entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors.

Kelly Kruger

Tyler Henderson

Micaiah Buchheim-Jurisson

Mercury Raise DTC

AmorSui (meaning “self-love” in latin) is paving its own category in SafewearTM by building a disruptive direct-to-consumer brand focusing on all things safety. Unlike traditional PPE suppliers, we are going beyond better-quality, gender-inclusive, and sustainable PPE products to also offer services and software solutions aiming to protect people and the planet. AmorSui is primed to become a leader in the $330B PPE and medical supply market (projecting to grow to $470B by 2028). similar to brands like FIGS ($8B IPO) and Stoggles (bootstrap to $13.5M ARR in 2 years) since there is currently no clear leader in the protective apparel space. The company has already established growth traction to reach 1,200 customers and $500,000 in revenue (400% YoY) in 2021.

With a team of experts in materials science, textile innovation, product design, and branding from Lululemon, Nike, FIGS, and JCrew, AmorSui is raising capital to accelerate its brand awareness to
establish brand loyalty from its customers and drive B2B sales through word-of-mouth. The deal is $3M on $10M post via standard YC SAFE. Investors include Techstars Ventures, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Dingman Center Angels, Managing Director of SSG Capital, CEO of Chipper Cash, Global Vice President of SAP, Marketing Director of P&G, and more.

Mercury Raise DTC gives DTC brands two minutes to pitch live in front of an audience of judges, investors, and potential customers.

Mercury- Raise DTC

At Mercury Raise DTC, DTC brands pitch their companies in two minutes and top judges ask them questions.

Gregory Belmont

Azul Pasos

Alex Carvalho

belmont@grandcentralholdings.com

Alexander Carvalho

AmorSui

Kabo is a subscription that improves the health of the dog through their biggest daily ritual, mealtime.

After customers share information about their dog, Kabo delivers fresh dog food based on their dietary needs with on-going access to Veterinary Experts at their finger tips. Subscribers can access a collection of seasonal treats and functional foods, such ice cream for pups or a protein bar for dogs on the go, in the Kabo marketplace.

**Traction**:

- 1.5M Meals Delivered
- Featured on: Dragons' Den, BuzzFeed, Forbes and [National Post](https://nationalpost.com/news/doing-good-dog-food-company-connects-pet-owners-with-vets-for-free-during-covid-19) 
- MRR: $400k+
- Avg Life Span: 15 mths
- ROAS: 5x
- Launched [Monch Bar](https://www.monchbar.com/) (over 200% funded on IGG)
- Team: 22
- Funding: $4M

**Why Us?**

- [Vino Jeyapalan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinojeya/) (CEO/Founder) –  has over 10 years of experience in building + scaling direct-to-consumer businesses to over $100M in revenue.
    - ex. Head of Growth @ More Labs - scaling revenue 5.6x.
    - ex. CEO/Founder @ 753 Group - a house of brands built around trending products with a successful exit. 
    - ex. Performance & Ecommerce @ Meta - building and [scaling out the ecommerce channel](http://marketingmag.ca/media/30-under-30-vino-jeyapalan-184757) at Facebook/Instagram. 
- Vijay Jeyapalan (COO/Founder) - over 10 years of experience in successfully growing consumer and subscription brands
    - ex. Head of Growth/Founder @ 753 Group - scaled 400% YoY growth through global expansion of house of brands with a successful exit. 
    - ex. Retail (Ecommerce) @ Meta - Launched Facebook's Vancouver Office with clients such as Lululemon and Article. Led Retail (E-Commerce) at Facebook/Instagram with Walmart
    - ex. Growth @ Endy, Kettle & Fire, Open Care, Clarity and Motoinsight.
- Dr. Suzee, DVSC, DVM, MSc (Veterinary Advisor) - 15+ years in veterinary pathology and veterinary medicine for companion animals. 
- Andrea Geiger, MSc - Veterinary Toxicology & Nutrition (R&D Scientist and Nutritionist) - 4+ years in canine nutrition research and testing. 
- Google for Startups Accelerator Alumni, Forbes 30 Under 30 '21

Vino Jeyapalan

Ben Cardarelli

Taylor Gendron

Matthew Behan-Fossey

Zev Lapin

Jeremy Kuo

Justin Tsang

XIN CHEN

Annabel Reeves

Kabo Labs

Glowe is an innovation-led apparel DTC brand supporting women from pregnancy to motherhood and beyond through a patented technology that supports the belly & back while pregnant and postpartum.

Our key item, The Glowe Maternity Legging is the only item out there that offers women REAL support throughout all stages of pregnancy and postpartum. Our innovation lifts the bump to relive pelvic pressure while also correcting your back to reduce back pain (suffered by 80% of pregnant women.)

Our +73% YoY growth is scalable as we head into 2022. We are fundraising to expand our product offerings and reach even more women who make up the +$46B US “Mom Economy.”

The Glowe was created to give women the self-care they deserve & stands for our mission of Giving LOve to Women Everywhere & we will be the “GO TO” destination for ALL mothers within this market.

Maternity, Meet Your Future.

TRACTION:

· $225k SALES $ in 2021

· +73% YoY SALES $ in 2021

· 3.2 Average Monthly ROAS

· $133 Average Order Value

· $230 – TOP 25% Customer Spend

John Pfabe GLOWE Co-Founder

Lucy Ovington

Jie Li

Triet Nguyen

Shaun Johnson

Eugene Eisenman

Jian Hou

GLOWE

Lumina is reinventing the webcam. We've built the first studio-quality 4K webcam that uses AI to make you look good.

When buying a webcam, consumers currently have to choose between a decades-old Logitech webcam and a $2000 DSLR camera. Both are analog cameras, just at different price points.

Lumina is the first smart webcam. Rather than using heavy metal and glass to make you look good, Lumina uses AI to deliver stunning video quality in a compact package. It adapts to your lighting conditions, optimizes your scene, and creates a beautiful depth-of-field effect around you.

Long term, our ambition is to build the smart home office. Just like webcams, the other products in your home office - your microphone, lighting, chair, and desk - haven't seen innovation in decades. Our aim is to change that.

Similar to how Nest modernized thermostats, Lumina is reinventing the home office. Webcams are our first product, and with your support, there’ll be many more to come.

Raymond Lei

Mike Xia

Ben Xi

Alicia Zeng

ARK Capital

Matthew Mercury Test One

William Sung

Brian Song

Simona Bali

Fernando Gutierrez-Eddy

Lumina

Attn: Grace is the first personal care brand for (and by) women as they age, designing modern, more sustainable solutions for age-old problems. We create high-performance solutions for women's evolving personal care needs, combining cutting-edge technology with powerful, plant-based ingredients that are skin-safe and kinder to our planet.

Mia Abbruzzese

Alexandra Fennell

Steve Ogunro

Attn: Grace

Kimai was born out of a desire to rethink the way fine jewelry is made. It was founded in 2018 by best friends Jessica Warch and Sidney Neuhaus, who both grew up in Antwerp to families working in the traditional diamond industry. After discovering the harrowing realities of the mining process, they aimed to deliver a progressive fine-jewelry brand catered to ethically and environmentally conscious consumers. Pioneering the use of lab diamonds grown using solar energy, Kimai creates high-quality jewelry with low impacts on people and the planet. 

     

Lab-grown diamonds are chemically and physically identical to mined diamonds, even trained gemologists cannot tell them apart with the naked eye. To mine a diamond, 250 tons of earth is disrupted (the equivalent to the 1st arrondissement of Paris). Not only this but the mining process often displaces local communities and is infamous for poor working conditions, as well as child labour. By replicating the ‘natural’ environment in a lab, Kimai is able to reduce environmental and social impact, and offer high-quality fine jewelry and bespoke pieces that are 100% traceable.

Jessica Warch

Mike Fingado

Meera Oak

Jason Zhang

Felipe Quiroga

Sumit Javeri

Kimai

Jelcie is a women + AAPI owned nail care brand that's elevating the at-home nail care experience by offering salon grade quality nail care at an affordable price. Our gel products are made with a better-for-you formula that's non-damaging, strengthening and longer lasting than other DIY nail solutions in the market.

Our flagship product, semicured gel nail stickers, is a new nail technology that comes as a partially cured (60% cured) gel sticker, and cures hard on your nails to 100% under a UV light. You can now skip the mess, cost, and harsh removal process that typically comes with liquid gel. With semicured gellies, simply apply, cure and done! Achieve a professional quality gel manicure in under 15 minutes.

Powered by community, Jelcie has grown to a community of 40,000+ nail friends since launching in May 2020, and have grown primarily via word-of-mouth. We are now fundraising to offer wholesale and retail, and to scale our DTC growth to reach more women who make up the $8B US nail care market.

Jelcie is the modern nail care and self-care brand that fits into your lifestyle – convienent, non-toxic, affordable nail and beauty solutions that are intuitive, high quality, and simple to use.