A Tale of Two Exits

Photo Credit: Uplift’s team photo

I am incredibly excited to announce that two of Good AI’s portfolios have exited in just the last two weeks. Congratulations to the team at Uplift and Serve Robotics.

Uplift

On July 27th, 2023, Upgrade announced the acquisition of Uplift for $100 million in Cash and Stock

As a leader in the BNPL ( Buy-Now-Pay-Later ) solutions for the travel industry, Uplift is serving 3.3 million customers in partnership with over 300 of the largest airlines, cruise lines, and hotel chains in the United States and Canada. 

With Uplift’s BNPL platform, Upgrade, a disruptive fintech leader in the credit space, can now make travel even more affordable for consumers. The acquisition also extends BNPL into other verticals where Upgrade already has a presence, such as home improvement. 

I still remember the day when I first met Brian Barth ( CEO at Uplift ), when he passionately shared with me his vision of how his startup can improve financial accessibility by providing best-in-class fintech solutions for the travel industry. They have certainly come a long way!

As one of the earliest investors in Uplift, I am utmostly proud of what the company has accomplished. We cannot ask for a better outcome than this!

Serve Robotics

On August 10, 2023, Serve Robotics announced that it is going public via a reverse merger with a blank-check company. 

With the reverse merger, Serve is able to go public while raising capital through a Private Investment of Public Equity ( PIPE ). Led by existing investors including Uber, Nvidia, and Wavemaker Partners, Serve was able to raise $30 million through the PIPE.

Based on such Alternative Public Offering ( APO ), Serve will be uplisted in NASDAQ in the months to come. 

Wireless phones, horseless carriages, driverless cars—we name things after what's removed! Without a horse, carriages evolved into sedans, semi-trucks, ATVs, Ferraris, Ducatis... Without drivers, cars too will evolve into new forms of mobility, most of which we have yet to think of.

We are moving two-pound burritos in two-ton cars and that doesn't make a lot of sense. It's incredibly inefficient

Ali Kashani ( CEO at Serve Robotics ) 

I still remember the day when I first met Ali Kashani, when he shared with me his vision of urban mobility. This is a world where autonomous delivery robots could reduce our dependency on automobiles, potentially leading to a great reduction in carbon footprint as well as much improved urban accessibility. 

With the $30M funding, Serve can now scale the delivery robots fleet across different cities. It is certainly one step closer to Ali’s vision. 

A New Chapter

As we are celebrating these incredible exits, we felt that these companies have all entered their new chapters. We can’t wait to see what’s next to come.

Their successes were also a testament to Good AI’s core beliefs of “Doing Good” can indeed lead to “Doing Well”. 

Congratulations to the team at Uplift and Serve. Upward and Onward!