# Martin Babinec

> Martin Babinec is a seed investor at Upstate Venture Connect (Utica) backing Software and SaaS. See 8 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Upstate Venture Connect](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/upstate-venture-connect)
- Location: Utica, United States
- Total investments: 8
- Last investment: Jan 2022
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/martinbabinec
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/MartinBabinec
- Website: https://x.com/MartinBabinec

Martin Babinec is a seed investor at Upstate Venture Connect in Utica focused on Software and SaaS. Martin Babinec is the Founder & Chairman at Entrepreneurs Across Borders.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 3 | 38% |
| SaaS | 2 | 25% |
| Enterprise Software | 2 | 25% |
| Information Technology | 2 | 25% |
| CRM | 1 | 13% |

23 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 4 | 50% |
| Pre-Seed | 1 | 13% |
| Series A | 1 | 13% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 1 | 13% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Shur | Shur is a B2B2C connecting the financial services industry to millions of Professionals with Student Loans. Our company-based financial wellness programs integrate alternative credit scoring, advice, insurance, and banking. Borrowers move from debt to wealth creation, while we build new revenue for banks and other financial institutions. | $1.4M | Pre-Seed | Jan 01, 2022 |  |
| Blueboard | Blueboard is the experiential rewards and recognition platform for the modern workplace. Its rewards platform allows companies to reward their employees to curated experiences and activities with the click of a button – things like skydiving, wine tasting, massage, and mixology. Its clients love the fact that it has made memorable and meaningfulrecognition as easy as sending a gift card.It was founded in 2013 and is based in San Francisco, California. | $9.3M | Series A | Sep 24, 2020 |  |
| StorySlab | StorySlab is a tablet selling system that makes it easy to share a better sales story, extend marketing’s reach, and satisfy IT requirements.The platform features enable frictionless selling. Each project is a custom-configured app, web CMS and secure cloud storage for a unique user and prospect experience with full offline functionality.StorySlab was founded in 2012 and is based in Syracuse, New York. | $2.7M | Venture - Series Unknown | Apr 03, 2020 |  |
| POM - The Peace of Mind Company | POM Partners provides life and workforce safety solutions through its security platform that pioneers leading-edge personal and enterprise-level security innovation to mitigate security risk | $700K | Seed | Apr 10, 2017 |  |
| POM - The Peace of Mind Company | POM Partners provides life and workforce safety solutions through its security platform that pioneers leading-edge personal and enterprise-level security innovation to mitigate security risk | $1.5M | Seed | Jan 20, 2016 |  |
| BeneStream | BeneStream provides medical aid solutions that help employers make choices in complying with the Affordable Care Act. It is a software-as-a-service company providing a low-cost solution to employers facing tough choices under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). New mandates will require large employers to offer costly employer-sponsored insurance (ESI)to their entire full-time workforce – or face fines.BeneStream provides a better choice for employers with a low-income workforce: Outsourced enrollment in Medicaid. This solution will save employers money while complying with ACA and provides them free, comprehensive, and family coverage.In 2014, tens of thousands of employers must offer health insurance to tens of millions of employees for the first time. As a result, employers with more than 50 employees are considering financially tough choices such as offering ACA-compliant insurance to their low-income workforce, offering no insurance – and risk fines, and cut employee hours to part-time.Employers subject to ACA mandates are asking their benefits advisors for a better choice. BeneStream’s technology provides help to eligible low-income employees enroll in the federal Medicaid program. This is a win-win solution because: It saves employers the cost of insurance for their low-income workforce while complying with the ACA; It eliminates the risks of fines for the employer and the employee; and it provides free, comprehensive coverage for the employee and their family, without deductibles or cost-sharing. |  | Seed | Jul 02, 2014 |  |
| Impel | SpinCar offers automotive dealers, OEMs and online marketplaces the industry’s most advanced platform for digital automotive merchandising. The company’s 360° WalkAround® and Feature Tour™ technology builds trust between buyers and sellers by bringing the physical showroom experience to car shoppers wherever and whenever they want. SpinCar’sproprietary shopper behavioral data and VINtelligent® Retargeting solution enable dealers to deliver hyper-personalized interactions across the entire car shopping journey. To date, more than 200 million virtual WalkArounds have been experienced by car shoppers across more than 15 countries. |  | Seed | Feb 11, 2014 |  |
| IntroNet | IntroNet is an application that makes it easy to make and track introductions and referrals to people in your professional and personal networks.IntroNet overcomes the clumsy practice of composing the customized introductory email with an application that enables users to generate an introduction email from an existing template, takingadvantage of data accessed through the their existing social network as well as contact information contained in their email and mobile devices.The value proposition is more than a compelling productivity tool. It extends beyond convenience to include a reporting mechanism which enables tracking and visibility of referrals to a connector and to any groups they may be part of. This not only adds value to the introduction process, but creates a social and network effect.Though IntroNet is an early stage company, it already has a running start. The company was founded by two technology startup veterans, Martin Babinec and Mike Krupit, so they know what they're doing. There is already seed capital and a ton of experience and connections for the company to leverage. |  | Seed |  |  |

8 of 8 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [UpVentures Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/upventures-capital) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Cayuga Venture Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cayuga-venture-fund) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [500 Global](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/500-startups) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [ARC Angel Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/arc-angel-fund) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Armory Square Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/armorysquare-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Bossa Invest](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bossanova-investimentos) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Upstate Venture Connect

VC Fund · Syracuse, United States

Upstate Venture Connect's mission is to catalyze the creation of thousands of high-tech, high-growth, private capital backed companies that will provide entrepreneurial opportunities for a new generation of highly educated and highly skilled talent. We will accomplish our goals by building an ecosystem linking Upstate NY venture entrepreneursto sources of talent and supporters across the region and its vast alumni and expatriate resources.

3 contacts available at Upstate Venture Connect.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Martin Babinec | Founder & Chairman | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/martin-babinec |
| Olivia Goldstein | Chief Executive Officer | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/olivia-goldstein |
| Kathryn Cartini | COO & CMO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kathryn-cartini |

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## FAQ

### What does Martin Babinec invest in?

Martin Babinec invests primarily in Software, SaaS and Enterprise Software startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 8 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Martin Babinec last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Martin Babinec closed in Jan 2022. Shizune tracks 8 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### 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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