Our Investment in Cover

Last week Timehop reminded me of a dinner I threw for 10 strangers in New York a year ago. On a lark I decided to organize a group of folks who followed me across various channels of social media so I could put some names and personalities with you all. It was a really fun night filled with interesting conversations and new connections.

One diner at the table mentioned he’d just left his gig to pursue a few ideas for companies he couldn’t shake. As the dinner wound down I wished him well on his new adventures and encouraged him to stay in touch as his ideas became more tangible. 

About 6 months ago that diner reached out to show off what he’d been working on and introduce me to his business partner. As Andrew cracked open the door on his Chelsea walk up apartment/office we were all smiles. When he introduced me to the problem they were working on I was impressed. When he introduced me to his partner Mark, I was intrigued. You see Mark was one of the founding members of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and lead all of the agencies work on mobile payments and other emerging payment technologies. He’s seen it all.

With that experience they’ve decided to take on a problem faced by restaurants and their patrons. After the meeting, they lined me up with a dinner to test out the service they’d been building and its potential was immediately eye opening.

Yesterday Techcrunch announced a small round of funding we’ve lead to bring Andrew and Mark’s creation, Cover, to market. Tho intentionally light on details, the TC piece gives a fairly good sense for where we’re going with this one. 

More details to come, but we’re happy to be adding Cover to the OATV team and thrilled to be a part of what they’re building.

Fittingly, it all started over a meal one year ago…