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.
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.
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.
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.
People
See all 4-
Carly Eckert Founder, Co-Founder, Head of Innovation & Impact, Former OliveAI Executive
-
Kabir Shahani Founder, Founder & Executive Chairman
-
Rohan D’Souza Founder, CEO and Co-founder, Co-Founder and CEO
