'I'm really uncomfortable with certainty': Meet Michelle Gilmore
Blackbird's blog interviews Juno founder Michelle Gilmore about her AI conversation product, its early adopters, and the $2.8 million raised to scale it.
Startup · $2.2m raised
Gen Z fitness app built and sold by Cara Davies
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Steppen raised.
| Investor | Rounds | Invested |
|---|---|---|
| Alice Anderson Fund | Seed · Pre-seed | - |
| Ant Eisen | Seed | - |
| Anthony Eisen | Seed · Pre-seed | - |
| Flying Fox Ventures | Seed | - |
| Galileo Ventures | Seed | - |
| Jagen | Seed · Pre-seed | - |
| LaunchVic | Seed · Accelerator | - |
| Startmate | Seed · Accelerator | - |
Companies Steppen acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Cara Davies | CEO | SmartCompany, Startup Daily |
| Dave Slutzkin | Co-founder and CTO | SmartCompany, Startup Daily |
| Jake Carp | Founder | SmartCompany, Startup Daily |
Stories naming Steppen. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Blackbird's blog interviews Juno founder Michelle Gilmore about her AI conversation product, its early adopters, and the $2.8 million raised to scale it.
Interview with Juno founder Michelle Gilmore on her AI listening engine, fifth venture and first external funding — $2.8 million with Blackbird's Nick Crocker leading — plus early customers.
Interview with Constantinople co-founder Di Challenor on her banking career and the record $32 million seed round she and Mac Duncan raised from Square Peg, Airtree and Great Southern Bank.
The fitness app founder reflects on selling his company to Alta Global Group, sharing five lessons about stakeholder management, compliance, communication, shareholder agreements and patience during an acquisition.
Steppen, whose app builds fitness habits for Gen Z, has closed a $1.65 million seed round from Galileo Ventures, Flying Fox, LaunchVic's Alice Anderson fund, Startmate, Anthony Eisen and the Jagen family office.
Also SmartCompany
Scale Investors co-founder Susan Oliver reflects on backing women founders and details LaunchVic's Alice Anderson Fund, which she chairs, listing six women-led startups it has backed alongside other Victorian capital initiatives.
Also LaunchVic
Victoria's women-focused Alice Anderson Fund has made its first investments, backing five women-led startups including Team Timbuktu, mtime, Steppen, Talkiplay and Milkdrop; individual amounts were not disclosed.
Also Startup Daily·LaunchVic
LaunchVic's Alice Anderson Fund reveals its first five women-led startups, with $727,167 invested directly and private co-investors adding over $2.3 million; the three-year, $10 million Victorian sidecar fund plans 40-60 investments.