Facts
- HQ
- Seattle, Washington, USA
- Sectors
- Technology, Information and Internet
- Founded
- 2024
- Employees
- 66
- Stage
- Seed
- Founders
- Rohan D'Souza, Dr. Carly Eckert, MD, PhD, Kabir Shahani
Founder Institute Relaunches Seattle Accelerator with Local Leadership and In-Person Programs Starting March 2024
Founder Institute is relaunching its Seattle chapter with local leadership led by tech veteran Aniket Naravanekar to revive in-person mentorship, events, and funding opportunities for startups. The first new cohort starts in March, with a launch event scheduled for December 12.
Fuse Leads $10 Million Seed Round in Avante as VC Investment Surges Amid AI Boom, Say Panelists
At a Seattle AI Week panel, Fuse's Kellan Carter and Avante CEO Rohan D’Souza shared that early-stage startups should focus on solving specific problems, building strong conviction, and prioritizing distribution amid the AI boom. Fuse led Avante’s $10 million seed round in late 2023, highlighting the importance of trust and relationships between founders and investors during the current venture capital landscape where AI drives significant funding.
Seattle's Adora Startup, Founded by Marco Matos and Kabir Shahani, Uses AI to Boost Marketing Efficiency for Major Brands
Seattle-based AI marketing startup Adora, co-founded by Marco Matos and Kabir Shahani in 2023, helps enterprise brands like Alaska Airlines and Brooks Running create and optimize marketing content faster and more efficiently. Adora's platform uses AI trained on each client's brand data to generate on-brand ad variations and measure performance across multiple channels.
Speaker Series with Kellan Carter of Fuse Finding a CEO Coach
Being a CEO is a journey filled with noble challenges and moments of loneliness. Finding someone you can trust to share your deepest struggles with is crucial. It's about identifying those individuals who have your best interests at heart.
Speaker Series Featuring Kellan Carter of FUSE
The August edition of the Scaling Montana Speaker Series features Kellen Carter, a founding partner at FUSE, a Montana native. Carter shared his journey from Great Falls, Montana, to becoming a leading voice in early-stage venture capital, emphasizing the importance of founder qualities such as resilience and the ability to attract talented people. He also discussed the evolving landscape of venture capital, highlighting the impact of AI and the reduced barriers to entry for startups. The session concluded with a Q&A, where Carter offered advice to Montana entrepreneurs on leveraging their unique backgrounds and the power of networking to succeed…
Fuse leads $10M Seed in Avante to build AI-powered infrastructure for employer healthcare benefits
Fuse led a $10 million Seed round, joined by HighSage Ventures, in Avante—an infrastructure platform that centralizes benefits data and uses AI to help employers manage employee healthcare more efficiently. Avante, led by CEO Rohan D’Souza and co-founder Carly Eckert, plans to expand its team and hire five roles as it scales its platform to reduce administrative burden and improve benefits outcomes.
Avante launches AI-native benefits intelligence platform after $10M seed round to cut employer benefits costs
Avante, an AI-native employee benefits intelligence platform, publicly launched to help employers control rising benefits costs by using AI, HR automation, and real-time insights to improve utilization and employee satisfaction. Early pilots with companies like Datavant and Zscaler reported a 40% reduction in HR workload, 7x higher employee engagement, and a potential 3% cut in overall benefits program costs; Avante raised $10 million in 2024 seed funding led by Fuse Venture Partners.
Kellan Carter of FUSE VC on Gallabox's $3.5M seed funding
Kellan Carter, Founder Partner of FUSE VC, shares his thoughts on Gallabox's seed investment round of $3.5M. Watch as he narrates the story of a chance encounter that led to him learning about Gallabox and how we're transforming business communication with WhatsApp Business API. Check out our story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidprosser/2025/01/29/why-gallabox-thinks-whatsapp-is-the-future-of-sales-and-marketing/
Expedia Appoints Scott Schenkel as CFO Amid C-Suite Changes; Ex-Microsoft AI VP Luis Vargas Launches AI Startup
Expedia Group appointed Scott Schenkel as its new CFO, succeeding Julie Whalen, amid broader executive changes including CEO Ariane Gorin's leadership. Meanwhile, former Microsoft AI VP Luis Vargas left to start a new AI startup as chief technologist.
Kellan Carter - Founding Partner at FUSE
Kellan Carter is a founding partner of Bellevue-based FUSE where he focuses on early-stage investments in intelligent software in both horizontal and vertical categories. He currently sits on several Boards, including Zuper and Pictory. Previously, Kellan spent seven years at Ignition Partners, a leading early-stage venture capital firm, and two years in investment banking at Mooreland Partners in San Francisco. Kellan also currently sits on the Board of the Bellevue Boys and Girls Club. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2024 Annual Investment Outlook
Send us Fan Mail Listen to our 2024 Annual Investment Outlook Panel with four top VCs based in Seattle and the Bay area. Get their perspective on the investment climate in 2024 and their plans to invest specifically in AI/ML based startups. Tim Porter, Managing Director, Madrona Ventures Tim joined Madrona in 2006 and invests in B2B software companies in the Pacific Northwest. He is currently interested in intelligent applications and SaaS, cloud-native software infrastructure, the modern data stack, machine learning, DevOps, and cybersecurity. He is also a board member of numerous Madrona portfolio companies. Sudip Chakrabarti, Partner, Decibel VC…
Avante Raises $10 Million Seed Round Led by FUSE; Kellan Carter to Join Board
Avante, a stealth Seattle startup led by former OliveAI executives Rohan D’Souza and Carly Eckert, raised $10 million in seed funding led by Bellevue-based FUSE with participation from Ascend Venture Capital, Highsage and angel investors. The funding will accelerate product development, expand engineering and data science teams, and FUSE’s Kellan Carter will join Avante’s board as the company scales after beginning development in fall 2023.
Meet the VC: Kellan Carter of Fuse Venture Partners, Webinar
Meet the VC is a monthly panel event hosted by Early Growth and its partners. This month’s speaker is Kellan Carter of Fuse Venture Partners – an early-stage, venture capital fund investing in Seattle-based Seed and Series A companies that are reinventing the modern economy with software. We discussed fundraising, investment thesis, mental health, minority founders, the current investment climate and more. Learn more at www.earlygrowth.com.
The INDUStry Show with Kellan Carter
Kellan Carter is a Partner at Ignition Partners, a dedicated early-stage enterprise software VC firm. Kellan is also a board member and investor at several leading tech startups such as botkeeper, Icertis, and Symend. He led Symend's $7.5mn Series A earlier this month. Kellan is an alum of University of Montana. The INDUStry Show is a one-of-its-kind platform sharing journeys of global entrepreneurs from different walks of life. Witty, sharp, and insightful, we get to know the person behind the persona. Today, The INDUStry Show is a widely broadcast, global publication. Now in Season 5, we have garnered over a…
Kabir Shahani
Kabir Shahani, rightfully so, was recently recognized as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” by Goldman Sachs. As a child, he got to travel the world playing violin and began attending summer college classes when he was only in sixth grade. Kabir co-founded his first company, Appature, at the age of 24 and successfully sold it in 2013. He is now the Co-founder and CEO of Amperity, which has received $37 million in funding in just three years. Kabir discusses Amperity’s values, how they hire, and the important role philanthropy plays in the company and his life. You’ll also…
People
See all 4-
Carly Eckert Founder, Co-Founder, Head of Innovation & Impact, Former OliveAI Executive
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Kabir Shahani Founder, Founder & Executive Chairman
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Rohan D’Souza Founder, CEO and Co-founder, Co-Founder and CEO
