How Yardstik Is Moving Background Screening to Full Workforce Lifecycle Protection
The Minneapolis-based startup is using continuous monitoring, fraud detection and embedded screening to compete in a growing employment-screening market. Contractors and candidates typically undergo a background check before starting work. But the risks don’t end after that initial screening. Months later, a worker’s license could expire, they could commit an offense or could have been […]
How CapitalOS is building the financial layer for vertical software
CapitalOS enables software platforms to embed cards, bill pay, and wallets for their users and AI agents, while handling the complex infrastructure behind them, including underwriting, risk, compliance, and capital. By Ryan Weber For decades, business owners working as plumbers, electricians and other field-service technicians paid for expenses they incurred on the job with personal […]
Building the infrastructure for modern loyalty
Benji CEO Nick Anastasiades in The Financial Revolutionist Loyalty has long been constrained by one-off integrations that are expensive to build, slow to launch and difficult to scale. As a result, many brands have been limited in how they can expand rewards ecosystems, while consumers are left with points and miles that often remain trapped […]
How Percent Pledge Carved Out a Profitable Niche in CSR Software
What began as a side project is now winning enterprise clients from legacy corporate giving platforms. Joel Pollick grew up in Boston with philanthropy as a family business. His father founded The Giving Back Fund, a nonprofit that helps athletes and entertainers launch charitable foundations and donor-advised funds. Yao Ming’s foundation operated through it, as […]
Why Loyalty is the Next Big Infrastructure Play (And Why We Doubled Down on Benji)
Why We Backed BenjiMost brands want loyalty partnerships. Almost none have the infrastructure to launch them fast. Loyalty is one of the fastest-growing parts of the consumer economy, yet it still runs on custom deals and manual integrations, with engineering timelines that can stretch a year or more. Benji is building the modern tooling that […]
The New York Times highlights Waterlily’s approach to long-term care
Long-term care costs upwards of $80,000 a year at home and $130,000 for a nursing home bed, yet only 15% of Americans over 65 have any insurance to cover it. Government has no comprehensive answer for it, making it one of the largest uninsured risks in American life. Our portfolio company Waterlily uses AI and […]
Branch + Stripe: Why this partnership is a signal, not just a story
One of our portfolio companies made news last week, and the announcement is significant: it represents exactly the kind of embedded finance milestone we look for when we back a company. On March 25, Branch, a provider of workforce financial infrastructure, announced it has become the embedded digital wallet provider for worker payouts within Stripe […]
LendAPI Partners with Target Optical
In a significant step forward for pediatric eye care, Great North Ventures portfolio company LendAPI has partnered with Target Optical to launch a specialized financing program for myopia management. This initiative aims to tackle the growing global myopia epidemic by removing the financial barriers associated with high-end treatments like Essilor Stellest lenses. While these “gold […]
Vertical AI in Action: Inhabitr Partners with IHG Hotels & Resorts
Great North Ventures portfolio company Inhabitr recently announced a major milestone, entering into a strategic vendor partnership with IHG Hotels & Resorts. Under a new Master Goods Agreement, Inhabitr is now an official furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) vendor for IHG, initially launching across the Mexico, Latin America and Caribbean (MLAC) and Canada regions. This […]
Firing On All Cylinders: Quicklly Rockets Ahead With 200% Revenue Run Rate Growth and 4X More Stores
Quicklly is the leading online marketplace for Indian groceries and food in the U.S., operating as an aggregator and infrastructure provider across all the major e-commerce platforms and brick-and-mortar retail. Founded and based in downtown Chicago, the company had a strong year in 2025, scaling significantly and increasing revenue run rate by more than 200%. […]