The Thanksgiving slowdown continues for seed-stage startups seeking funding.
Just two companies announced seed rounds over the last week. For one of them, the new investment was actually its second seed investment of the year.
Simplified, which offers an advertising design service, raised $8.5 million in its latest round. That follows a $2.2 million seed round the San Francisco company announced in June.
The startup's service allows people to design and publish ads and marketing messages. Teams can use it to collaborate in real time, and the service includes an artificial intelligence-powered writing tool.
Legally known as TLDR Technologies Inc., Simplified plans to use its new funds to further develop its software and its AI, it said in a press release announcing the new funding. The company also plans to branch out internationally, offering its service in Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean, French and other languages.
"We're dedicated to making content creation seamless and accessible for teams everywhere, and we're ready to get the ball rolling," CEO KD Deshpande said in the news release.
Craft Ventures led Simplified's latest round.
Here's the short list of seed rounds from the last week:
TLDR Technologies Inc. (dba Simplified), San Francisco, $8.5 million: Craft Ventures led the round for this provider of an advertising creation, design and publishing service. Khosla Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, 8bit Capital also invested, Calm Chief Product Officer Mads Johnsen, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Manik Gupta and Teachable founder Ankur Nagpal also invested.
Cruz Foam Inc., Santa Cruz, $2.5 million: At One Ventures led the round for this developer of a sustainable packaging material made from shrimp shells. Sony Innovation Fund, Regeneration.VC and Santa Cruz Works also invested.
