# Ascend Venture Group

> Ascend Venture Group is a VC fund backing Software and Advertising. See 20 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: New York, United States
- Total investments: 20
- Last investment: Jul 2016
- Lead investor: 20%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ascend-venture-group/about/
- Website: http://www.ascendventures.com

Ascend Venture Group is a VC fund in New York focused on Software and Advertising. Ascend Venture Group, LLC is a private investment management firm founded on the belief that creating and capturing value is akin to scaling a mountain. Ascend believes that alternative investments play a crucial role in driving outsized returns and building a well-diversifiedinvestment portfolio. Ascend combines highly sophisticated financial expertise with unique access to investment opportunities to create attractive risk/reward portfolios and partnerships for its investors. Working with uncompromising, ambitious, talented entrepreneurs and business owners who have no fear of the challenge involved in attempting to quickly scale an enterprise, Ascend is focused on rapid value creation.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Ascend Venture Group. Shizune tracks 4 team members at Ascend Venture Group. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/ascend-venture-group?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 5 | 25% |
| Advertising | 3 | 15% |
| FinTech | 2 | 10% |
| Government | 2 | 10% |
| Mobile Payments | 2 | 10% |

37 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series B | 6 | 30% |
| Series A | 5 | 25% |
| Series C | 3 | 15% |
| Series D | 3 | 15% |
| Funding Round | 1 | 5% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 10 | 50% |
| Thailand | 2 | 10% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Charles Crockett | Founding Partner | 5 | — |
| Darryl Wash | Managing Partner | 0 | — |
| David Bowen | Founding Partner | 0 | — |
| Kylie Sachs | Partner | 0 | — |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Omise | Omise is an online payment gateway offering a wide range of processing solutions for any business need. Our endeavor is to provide the best online payment experience that works seamlessly on both the mobile and the web. With a growing dynamic international team, we relentlessly work to set new benchmarks to the industry by optimizingeasy-to-integrate functionality for our partners while at the same time, narrowing the gap that staggers between the physical and online market today. Omise now operates in Thailand, Japan, and Singapore.In Thailand, online stores are still striving to have a proper payment solution because applying and implementing has never been simple and smooth. All of the major PSP’s require cumbersome documentation to apply; monthly commitments, high transaction fees and all take considerable amount of time to gain approval. Additionally, there is no good online API documentation or sandbox to test. Thus, stores drive their business by offline payment methods such as ATMs, Banks or online banking. Once shoppers have made their transactions, they have to send a proof of payment to there store via email or other social network channels. Since there is no payment notification, the store has to check the transaction manually which delays the delivery time and increases the chance of fraud. This fraud may occur by shoppers’ photo shopping their proof of payment.Since a reliable, simple and smooth online payment system has been lacking in Thailand, Omise.co founder, Jun Hasegawa and co-founder Ezra Don Harinsut, recognized the need to bridge the gap between stores and shoppers. Therefore, the Omise team has been developing a payment solution that would be available for everyone to sign up and make online payments simple, easy, smooth and possible. Omise is ideal for both developers and non-developers. Applying for Omise only requires minimal online identification, no minimum monthly commitment and low transaction fees. Stores will be able to accept payments instantly. In addition, for non-developers, accepting payments via social network will be possible for everyone! Stores are able to accept credit and debit card payments as well as bill payments which will allow shoppers to pay by their online banking accounts, ATM’s and banks. Providing the highest level of online payment security standard has always been Omise’s goal. That is why Omise has achieved PCI-DSS 3.1 compliant to meet all requirements from VISA and Master. | $17.5M | Series B | Jul 21, 2016 |  |
| Opn | Opn, which was rebranded from SYNQA, is a company founded in 2013 with expertise in Asia. Opn specializes in online payment, blockchain technology for fintech applications and digital transformation solutions. Opn connects people, businesses and society in innovative ways that spread the wealth of financial opportunity and provide fair and openaccess to a growing economic ecosystem under its vision of enabling access to the digital economy for everyone. Opn is powered by its payment infrastructure sister company, Omise Payment Holdings, which provides one-stop online payment solutions. Its services are used by thousands of merchants and businesses around the world. | $17.5M | Series B | Jul 21, 2016 |  |
| Mogreet | Founded in 2006 and acquired by payvia in 2013, Mogreet is the leading text message marketing platform focusing on the delivery of fully branded, rich media to mobile devices via MMS. The company works with leading marketers in entertainment, media, retail, consumer products, health care and real estate. Currently supported in over 175 countries,Mogreet's messaging platform can reach 2 billion consumers globally.In 2013, Mogreet launched Mogreet Express, the first self-service MMS text messaging platform, allowing small businesses to engage with customers and increase sales by sending multimedia rich messages.Mogreet's newly released APIs let developers quickly send SMS or MMS messaging ($0.01 each per send) and add MMS, SMS, video, rich media messaging to apps. This Venice, California based company started as a mobile greetings company and went on to develop a mobile messaging platform with the capability to send MMS messages with high quality and optimized video, images, audio, and social media integration. Mogreet was acquired in 2013 by the mobile payments industry leader, payvia to build a single solution that allows brands of all sizes to target, transact and engage with customers. | $4.1M |  | Apr 04, 2012 |  |
| StrikeIron | StrikeIron is the leader in Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), delivering data quality and communications solutions via our cloud platform IronCloud. We provide address verification, email verification, phone validation, phone append, SMS text messaging, and sales tax solutions to customers in a variety of markets. Our solutions are delivered as Webservices that can be easily integrated into any application or system. Additionally, our solutions are pre-integrated into leading platforms like: Salesforce.com, Magento, Informatica, Oracle CRM On-Demand, and more. Visit us on the web at http://www.strikeiron.com or follow us on Twitter @StrikeIron. | $5.5M | Series D | Mar 23, 2009 |  |
| Schoolnet | Schoolnet offers instructional improvement education software to increase student achievement, teacher quality and operational efficiency. | $13M | Series D | Jan 01, 2009 |  |
| Mogreet | Founded in 2006 and acquired by payvia in 2013, Mogreet is the leading text message marketing platform focusing on the delivery of fully branded, rich media to mobile devices via MMS. The company works with leading marketers in entertainment, media, retail, consumer products, health care and real estate. Currently supported in over 175 countries,Mogreet's messaging platform can reach 2 billion consumers globally.In 2013, Mogreet launched Mogreet Express, the first self-service MMS text messaging platform, allowing small businesses to engage with customers and increase sales by sending multimedia rich messages.Mogreet's newly released APIs let developers quickly send SMS or MMS messaging ($0.01 each per send) and add MMS, SMS, video, rich media messaging to apps. This Venice, California based company started as a mobile greetings company and went on to develop a mobile messaging platform with the capability to send MMS messages with high quality and optimized video, images, audio, and social media integration. Mogreet was acquired in 2013 by the mobile payments industry leader, payvia to build a single solution that allows brands of all sizes to target, transact and engage with customers. | $5M | Series B | Nov 11, 2008 |  |
| Send Word Now | Send Word Now is the worldwide provider of enterprise communications services. Their easy-to-use, web-based and mobile solutions are deployed by businesses, government agencies, universities and non-profit organizations to ensure fast, effective communication when it is needed the most.Send Word Now was founded in 2001, by a group ofindividuals who recognized the need for immediate, reliable and multimodal crisis communications after the tragedies of September 11, 2001. Since that time, organizations across the globe have faced a multitude of natural and man-made disruptions, creating a heightened focus on business continuity, regulatory compliance, security and the ability to audit information flow.Further, today’s borderless business environment and increasingly mobile workforce have surfaced new needs for operations-focused communication and collaboration. Send Word Now is successfully transforming the way organizations communicate globally, both for emergency situations, and for every day, time-sensitive interactions.Their enterprise-class emergency notification system is capable of transmitting tens of thousands of voice and text messages in minutes, while providing a full audit trail for after action reporting and follow-up. Their mobile conferencing, collaboration and workflow solutions keep employees informed and connected to the people and information they need. And, everything is backed by their 100% Uptime reliability guarantee, and unmatched 24x7x365 customer support.In emergencies, or every day. When rapid, effective communication is essential for success, rely on Send Word Now for innovative, secure and reliable notification and collaboration solutions. | $14M | Series D | Sep 29, 2008 |  |
| Send Word Now | Send Word Now is the worldwide provider of enterprise communications services. Their easy-to-use, web-based and mobile solutions are deployed by businesses, government agencies, universities and non-profit organizations to ensure fast, effective communication when it is needed the most.Send Word Now was founded in 2001, by a group ofindividuals who recognized the need for immediate, reliable and multimodal crisis communications after the tragedies of September 11, 2001. Since that time, organizations across the globe have faced a multitude of natural and man-made disruptions, creating a heightened focus on business continuity, regulatory compliance, security and the ability to audit information flow.Further, today’s borderless business environment and increasingly mobile workforce have surfaced new needs for operations-focused communication and collaboration. Send Word Now is successfully transforming the way organizations communicate globally, both for emergency situations, and for every day, time-sensitive interactions.Their enterprise-class emergency notification system is capable of transmitting tens of thousands of voice and text messages in minutes, while providing a full audit trail for after action reporting and follow-up. Their mobile conferencing, collaboration and workflow solutions keep employees informed and connected to the people and information they need. And, everything is backed by their 100% Uptime reliability guarantee, and unmatched 24x7x365 customer support.In emergencies, or every day. When rapid, effective communication is essential for success, rely on Send Word Now for innovative, secure and reliable notification and collaboration solutions. | $8.5M | Series C | Oct 09, 2007 |  |
| ITM Software | ITM Software delivers the only truly integrated approach to IT Business Management - one solution and one system of record for comprehensive visibility, coordination and control across IT functions. Serving as the glue connecting the traditional silos of IT information, ITM enables increased transparency, better decisions, more effective spending,and improved business alignment. The company has a single focus on serving the business management needs of IT organizations. Lead by former CIOs and IT leaders, ITM Software brings a unique perspective to the management challenges facing IT today. This experience base, combined with a world-class software development team, translates into products and best-practice expertise that bring a business-centric approach to managing IT. At the core of the ITM offering is the ITM Business Suite, an integrated solution comprised of six components addressing the most critical areas of IT Business Management including people, processes, vendors, assets, financials, projects, and regulatory compliance. Coupled with the ITM Business Suite, the company provides best practice expertise and a proven methodology for helping clients define business objectives and develop and execute on a plan to achieve them. This unique combination of software products and management expertise enables CIOs to drive down IT costs, and increase the bottom line through improved alignment with the business objectives of the enterprise. Founded in 2001 by former CIOs, the Company serves IT organizations within Fortune 2000 corporations, government agencies and universities. ITM Software is privately held and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. | $4M |  | Aug 20, 2007 |  |
| Tripology | Tripology is an interactive travel referral service focused on connecting travelers with qualified and customerrated travel specialists. Available at no cost to consumers, Tripology utilizes proprietary technology to match traveler requests with travel professionals. The company has received and processed more than 65,000 consumer trip requestssince www.Tripology.com launched in June 2007. Based in New York, NY, Tripology offers travelers the best of both worlds, combining a content-rich online experience with access to knowledgeable travel specialists in their desired destination or type of travel for the personal attention and service they seek.Tripology is a privately held corporation based in New York, NY. Its principal investor is Ascend Venture Group. For more information, visit www.Tripology.com. | $1.3M | Series A | Jan 01, 2007 |  |

10 of 20 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Frontier Venture Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dfj-frontier) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Early Stage Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/early-stage-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [EV Growth](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ev-growth) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Golden Gate Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/golden-gate-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- InnoCal Venture Capital — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mid-atlantic-venture-funds) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

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- [FJ Labs](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/fj-labs) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Ascend Venture Group invest in?

Ascend Venture Group invests primarily in Software, Advertising and FinTech startups, most often at Series B and Series A stage. Most of the 20 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Ascend Venture Group?

Public channels for Ascend Venture Group include LinkedIn and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Ascend Venture Group?

The team at Ascend Venture Group includes Charles Crockett (Founding Partner), Darryl Wash (Managing Partner) and David Bowen (Founding Partner). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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