Benjamin Malka

First Connect helps connect independent agents with today’s “best-in-class” Insurtech providers and other tech-focused carriers. Think of us as the bridge between America’s local insurance experts and the wave of change sweeping the insurance industry. We bring an entirely new way of thinking about insurance to the marketplace. Insurtech brings four major advantages to the market: Increased connectivity and speed. Targeted product concepts. Full automation. Data-driven decision making and insights. Insurtechs are active in all major insurance products and business lines, with a concentration in providing access to the P&C business. In fact, investments skyrocketed to well over $2 billion in 2017 in the United States. At First Connect, we vet and provide our producers with the “cream-of-the-crop” in Insurtech carriers and markets. We will continue to add new partners on a regular basis to help independent agents take full advantage of this new way of doing business. Some of our exceptional Insurtech carrier partners are: Hippo Insurance Neptune Flood Clearcover Auto Motion Auto Mile Auto RLI Next Insurance Pie Insurance Attune Bankers Insurance Ethos Thimble Let us help connect you to a better tomorrow! Reach out today! http://www.firstconnectinsurance.com/

Radius is the premier tech-driven brokerage firm for real estate professionals eager to grow their brands and profits. From networking opportunities, branding/marketing resources, to white-glove services for buyers and sellers, Radius empowers real estate professionals to grow their businesses while saving them time and money. Founded in 2015, Radius is backed by the founders of Trulia, Zillow and Roofstock. Visit https://www.radiusagent.com/ to learn more.

Stride enables independent workers to reap the benefits of their independence. Stride simplifies the challenges of being self-employed by helping workers handle the complexities of insurance, finances, and taxes — in one convenient platform. Stride has helped over 3.7 million workers save an estimated $5.4 billion on their taxes and monthly health insurance premiums. Stride also supports over 100 leading enterprises including contract workforces, employers, health plans, and agents in delivering access to health benefits and financial planning tools to their workers and customers. Companies like Uber, Amazon, DoorDash, and Instacart partner with Stride to provide their gig economy workforces access to Strides benefits platform. The company is backed by $96 million in capital from Venrock, New Enterprise Associates, Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital Partners, Mastercard, Allstate and King River.

AvantStay is the largest and highest-rated luxury vacation rental management company in the United States. AvantStay delivers a highly-curated experience customized to guests’ needs, using a proprietary tech suite to power bookings, seamlessly operationalize in-field and remote management, and activate authentic and elevated consumer touch points. Weve been recognized by industry leaders and press with awards such as: • Forbes Best Vacation Rentals of 2026 • Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Companies 4 years in a row! • Inc 5000 2021: #332 Overall • a16z Marketplace 100: #57 Overall, #6 in Travel • 2024 Skift Short-Term Rental Awards: Finalist for Best Luxury Vacation Rental and Best Booking Platform • Skifts Short-Term Rental 250: #5 Vacation Home Manager • Top 1% Market Leader in Vacation Rental Management by Comparent • International Hospitality Institutes 100 Most Influential People in Global Hospitality and Travel for 2023: Sean Breuner & Reuben Doetsch • Built in LA Best Places to Work 2022: #59 Midsized Companies • Best Startup US: 101 Top CEOs in Hospitality

Snapsheet makes claims simple for everyone. Through our pioneering expertise in virtual estimating and leading cloud-native claims management software, we are transforming the end-to-end claims process – delivering faster, modern claims experiences.

Vestwell is the modern fintech engine powering savings and investment programs for small businesses and individual savers across the country. We’re helping to close the savings gap by offering a flexible, cost-effective, modern solution to save for the critical aspects of life - retirement, education, and healthcare. Vestwell currently powers nearly 25,000 small businesses, over a million savers, and $27 billion in assets in all 50 states. To learn more visit vestwell.com. Vestwell Advisors LLC is a subsidiary of Vestwell Holdings, Inc. Vestwell Advisors LLC is an investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and can provide investment management services for qualified retirement plans using the Vestwell platform. For more information about Vestwell, Vestwell Advisors, and our other services, learn more at www.vestwell.com.

Toast empowers restaurants of all sizes to build great teams, increase revenue, improve operations, and delight guests. We pair our deep understanding of the restaurant industry with powerful cloud based software and restaurant-grade hardware to deliver an intuitive, all-in-one platform, across point of sale, guest marketing, digital ordering & delivery, and payroll & HR We are Toasters! Think you could be one too? https://careers.toasttab.com/

MX Technologies, Inc. is a leader in actionable intelligence, enabling financial providers and consumers to do more with financial data. MX provides end-to-end solutions for financial institutions and fintechs to connect to, understand, and act on customers’ financial data.

We’re Plastiq, Powered by Priority. We’ve helped tens of thousands of businesses improve cash flow with instant access to working capital, while automating and enabling control over all aspects of accounts payable and receivable. We are now powered by Priority Technology Holdings, the 4th largest non bank payments business in the US successfully serving over 800 thousand customers on their payments and banking unified commerce platform. Our mission is to help growing businesses. Our flagship product, Plastiq Pay, pioneered a way for businesses to pay suppliers by credit card regardless of acceptance. Today, with the high cost of capital, paying suppliers with our flexible and inexpensive tools gives your business an even greater competitive edge. Scale your business by accelerating the cash conversion cycle by visiting us at https://www.plastiq.com/.

CashStar is a leading provider of end-to-end first party solutions and services for gift card commerce, supporting multiple touchpoints across the customer lifecycle. Its award-winning platform, CashStar Commerce, is a flexible and market-proven solution that enables merchants to directly market, sell and distribute digital and plastic gift cards across channels and devices. With security, scalability and reliability integral to its foundation, CashStar clients can focus more on creating great customer experiences, growing gift card revenue and driving omni-channel engagement. CashStar Velocity Services allow merchants to grow their gift card programs with minimal resource investment. CashStar clients include top brands like SEPHORA, Starbucks, The Home Depot, Uber and Walmart. CashStar is a Blackhawk Network Business. Based in Portland, Maine, CashStar's team brings deep technology, retail and payments experience from market leading companies such as American Express, Blackhawk Network, Cartera Commerce, Chase, First Data Corp, GM, IDEXX, Intuit, Maritz, PayPal, and WEX. To learn more about how CashStar is constantly innovating the way businesses leverage gift card ecommerce solutions, please visit cashstar.com, follow us @CashStar or email info@cashstar.com.

FSV Payment Systems, Inc. is one of the nation's largest payroll card and general purpose reloadable card providers, delivering end-to-end program management and state-of-the-art scalable prepaid processing solutions. Our leading edge technology and industry expertise provides employers, issuers, and program managers with quick program implementation and increased operational efficiencies. These attributes translate into an ability to meet each client’s specific needs and deliver direct measurable benefits.

ValoreBooks is the students #1 marketplace to rent, buy, or sell affordable college textbooks. The ValoreBooks online marketplace offers inexpensive textbooks, up to 90% off the list price, to students from over 10,000 booksellers across the country. ValoreBooks mission is to be the best textbook marketplace for college students, offering the lowest prices and best customer service around. Learn more at www.ValoreBooks.com

Convert more customers, get paid faster and streamline your business. PayChoice allows you to accept all payment methods and save time so you can get back to business. Easily set up direct debits, online payment gateways and real-time payments with industry-leading security. PayChoice integrates directly with your existing software so you can stop chasing up your money, stop double handling data, and stop wasting hours on tech headaches!

Compete provides marketers with actionable digital intelligence to improve their online and offline marketing effectiveness. Hundreds of clients, including the world’s leading brands, rely on Compete to help them create more effective websites and more targeted advertising campaigns. Compete’s products include online measurement tools available at Compete.com, as well as deep consumer and competitor insights in the automotive, consumer goods, financial services, media, retail, telecom and travel industries. Compete’s offerings are based on the online behavior and survey responses of millions of consumers, the largest integrated panel of its kind. Compete’s unique multi-source panel methodology and industry-leading data management practices ensure our panel is unmatched in its depth, quality and integrity. To learn more about Compete or to increase your digital intelligence, visit www.compete.com or our award-winning blog at blog.compete.com.

First Connect helps connect independent agents with today’s “best-in-class” Insurtech providers and other tech-focused carriers. Think of us as the bridge between America’s local insurance experts and the wave of change sweeping the insurance industry. We bring an entirely new way of thinking about insurance to the marketplace. Insurtech brings four major advantages to the market: Increased connectivity and speed. Targeted product concepts. Full automation. Data-driven decision making and insights. Insurtechs are active in all major insurance products and business lines, with a concentration in providing access to the P&C business. In fact, investments skyrocketed to well over $2 billion in 2017 in the United States. At First Connect, we vet and provide our producers with the “cream-of-the-crop” in Insurtech carriers and markets. We will continue to add new partners on a regular basis to help independent agents take full advantage of this new way of doing business. Some of our exceptional Insurtech carrier partners are: Hippo Insurance Neptune Flood Clearcover Auto Motion Auto Mile Auto RLI Next Insurance Pie Insurance Attune Bankers Insurance Ethos Thimble Let us help connect you to a better tomorrow! Reach out today! http://www.firstconnectinsurance.com/

Radius is the premier tech-driven brokerage firm for real estate professionals eager to grow their brands and profits. From networking opportunities, branding/marketing resources, to white-glove services for buyers and sellers, Radius empowers real estate professionals to grow their businesses while saving them time and money. Founded in 2015, Radius is backed by the founders of Trulia, Zillow and Roofstock. Visit https://www.radiusagent.com/ to learn more.

Cota Capital is an early-stage investment firm that builds and invests in technology companies addressing “Net New” challenges in the enterprise. Cota believes knowledge is the true capital, and the firm leverages its deep enterprise expertise, global network of industry leaders, and systematic investment rigor to empower founders to build transformative businesses. Founded in 2015, Cota is an SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.cotacapital.com. The views expressed here are independent views of the individual presenters or authors and are not the views of Cota Capital or its affiliates. This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. References to any securities are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by Cota Capital. PLEASE SEE MORE HERE: https://www.cotacapital.com/disclosures/

Stride enables independent workers to reap the benefits of their independence. Stride simplifies the challenges of being self-employed by helping workers handle the complexities of insurance, finances, and taxes — in one convenient platform. Stride has helped over 3.7 million workers save an estimated $5.4 billion on their taxes and monthly health insurance premiums. Stride also supports over 100 leading enterprises including contract workforces, employers, health plans, and agents in delivering access to health benefits and financial planning tools to their workers and customers. Companies like Uber, Amazon, DoorDash, and Instacart partner with Stride to provide their gig economy workforces access to Strides benefits platform. The company is backed by $96 million in capital from Venrock, New Enterprise Associates, Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital Partners, Mastercard, Allstate and King River.

AvantStay is the largest and highest-rated luxury vacation rental management company in the United States. AvantStay delivers a highly-curated experience customized to guests’ needs, using a proprietary tech suite to power bookings, seamlessly operationalize in-field and remote management, and activate authentic and elevated consumer touch points. Weve been recognized by industry leaders and press with awards such as: • Forbes Best Vacation Rentals of 2026 • Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Companies 4 years in a row! • Inc 5000 2021: #332 Overall • a16z Marketplace 100: #57 Overall, #6 in Travel • 2024 Skift Short-Term Rental Awards: Finalist for Best Luxury Vacation Rental and Best Booking Platform • Skifts Short-Term Rental 250: #5 Vacation Home Manager • Top 1% Market Leader in Vacation Rental Management by Comparent • International Hospitality Institutes 100 Most Influential People in Global Hospitality and Travel for 2023: Sean Breuner & Reuben Doetsch • Built in LA Best Places to Work 2022: #59 Midsized Companies • Best Startup US: 101 Top CEOs in Hospitality