VentureFizz Good News Report

EverQuote donated over $200,000 through individual contributions and company matches to organizations promoting racial equality and fighting police brutality. EverBlack, an employee resource group at EverQuote, created an anti-racism resource directory on how to become more involved and knowledgeable. We are proud of the progress we have made and also proud to say that this is only the beginning for us as a company. Read more here.

The past few months Cogito has continued to work hard and produce exciting innovations for our clients. Recently we were able to release some very exciting updates to our product. The latest capabilities help support agents through unprecedented call volumes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with updated in-the-moment guidance features, as well as enriched data visualizations for supervisors – enabling more specific coaching opportunities while managing distributed teams. Read more here.

Since Drift was founded, our number one Leadership Principle has always been “put the customer at the center of everything you do.” When the crisis hit earlier this year, it required us to make significant business changes to help support our customers however we could, particularly as many of them pivoted their business models. In March we made our Drift Video platform free for all teachers, students and non-profit employees. We built Drift Video for businesses, but the ability to privately share videos and to know who has watched which videos and to be able to message the teacher while watching the video is a perfect match for schools too, and almost 1,000 educators and students have taken advantage of this offer so far. Read more here.

ezCater, the world’s largest online catering marketplace, launched Relish, a new way to feed offices of any size, anywhere in the U.S. Relish helps keep employees safe by delivering boxed lunches from popular restaurants straight to the office. Read more here.

Even though sports have been on hiatus for the past few months, doesn't mean DraftKings has. We've been busier than ever by going public and listing on the Nasdaq, multi-state launch of our Sportsbook product in Colorado and Pennsylvania, and recently launching a standalone casino App in New Jersey! Stay up to date on DraftKings here!

At Cybereason, we are committed to actionable change based on one of our core values, UbU. The meaning of UbU is our belief that each person can unlock their full potential when they work somewhere that accepts them for who they are. We recently created our UbU Employee Advisory Board, in which our first focus will be the Black Lives Matter movement, putting funding into external guest speakers, bias training workshops, and reimbursements for employees who wish to purchase books and materials relevant to Black Lives Matter. Read more here.

Salsify is participating in Summer Fridays! We are encouraging our employees to unplug and recharge every Friday to help us enjoy the summer months and stay mentally well. Want to check out how our employees have been spending their 3-day weekends? Check out our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeatsalsify/ 

We know the COVID-19 crisis disproportionately affects people with chronic or complex conditions. As the effects of the pandemic continue to be felt for months to come, it’s critical that healthcare organizations provide care management services for the chronic condition patient population to help identify, engage, and monitor individuals outside the health care system That's why Wellframe produced the COVID-19 Chronic Condition Population Report--to help healthcare organizations best support and empower these populations and to identify recommendations for improving their health and wellbeing in these extraordinary times. Read more here.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Vecna Robotics was in the middle of a clothing drive for a local Cambridge area non-profit, Second Chances. Employees continued to rally around the cause and collected over 366 pounds of clothing for donation. We are proud to be a company that continuously seeks to give back and go green especially during the most challenging times! Read more here.

Now valued at $1.2B, Workhuman sees impressive adoption of new product offerings and helps to support new ways of making human connection during a global pandemic. Additionally, the company has added three seasoned executives from SAP, Staples and Workday to their leadership team. Read more here.

"Operation Lighthouse"

We're giving customers real-time analytics and analysis (see our daily poll on brand and consumer trends) and playbooks to help both brick and mortar and online businesses navigate COVID-19. Klaviyo took the proactive approach to start surveying our customers, analyzing the data that we create to produce reports for the public to understand customer purchasing trends, and how to navigate Covid. Congrats to the Operation Lighthouse crew on getting covered by Yahoo Finance. 

edX developed a blog of anti-racism learning resources. The events of the past week weeks have left many looking for ways to take action. One important action is learning. At edX, we believe that education has the power to transform and lift up humanity. We’ve invested in increasing access to high-quality learning in a wide range of topics, some of which are particularly important today. In this post, we share a selection of courses that may be a helpful place to get started in your learning journey, alongside additional resources about anti-racism that our own community has found helpful to read, watch, and listen to. Read more here.

Abacus Insights raised $35M in Series B funding. Abacus Insights’ mission is to better healthcare outcomes and lower the cost of healthcare. This year we have grown from 25 to 90 people and with this funding, we will be continuing to grow in every department. Check out our recent article in Forbes.

Hydrow recently secured a $25 million investment from L'Catterton. We are very grateful to have such a fantastic group as we continue to grow together. Read more here.

Mimecast embraced a new, Diversity and Inclusion initiative by hiring a new Global Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Jennifer Odogwu, here she discusses her experiences with prejudice and marginalization, and provides tips for taking action for individuals and organizations. Read more here.

Despite the changes and uncertainty of the past few months, at LogMeIn we’re proud to bring virtual smiles – and goats! – to many faces across the globe! We've partnered with Sweet Farm, the first non-profit sanctuary in the world that addresses the impact of farming across animals, plants and the planet. Through their “Goat-2-Meeting” offering, which uses our very own GoToMeeting platform, we've hosted virtual farm tours and featured goats and other farm animals as special guests in office hours, staff meetings, and even baby showers! Read more here.

Flywire launched the Flywire Charitable Foundation, an initiative focused on improving equality, access, and affordability for underrepresented individuals in the global communities. As part of their inaugural pledge, they launched four academic scholarships that will be awarded to students in two distinct academic categories: global health and medicine, as well as social justice. Learn more about the foundation and how to apply to the scholarships here.