# Steve Kaufer

> Steve Kaufer is a Series A investor at Give Freely (Boston) backing Internet and B2B. See 10 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Give Freely](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/give-freely)
- Location: Boston, United States
- Total investments: 10
- Last investment: Oct 2024
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stkaufer
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kaufer
- Website: https://x.com/kaufer

Steve Kaufer is a Series A investor at Give Freely in Boston focused on Internet and B2B. Kaufer co-founded TripAdvisor in 2000 with the mission to help travellers around the world plan and have the perfect trip. Under Kaufer's leadership, TripAdvisor has grown into the world's largest travel site, with more than 50 million unique monthly visitors, 20 million members and over 60 million reviews and opinions.Kaufer has alsobuilt TripAdvisor, Inc., which includes 19 other travel brands, and has expanded the TripAdvisor brand into 30 countries. Kaufer and his co-founders sold TripAdvisor to InterActive Corporation in 2004, which later spun off its travel businesses to Expedia, Inc. TripAdvisor was owned by Expedia until December 2011, when it spun off to become its own publically traded company.Prior to co-founding TripAdvisor, Kaufer was president of CDS, Inc., an independent software vendor, and co-founder and vice president of engineering of CenterLine Software, where he led the development of several award-winning programming environments.Kaufer, winner of the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, holds several software patents and has spoken at dozens of travel and high-tech conferences worldwide. He is on the board of directors at Glassdoor; CarGurus (www.cargurus.com); and the Caring For Carcinoid Foundation (www.caringforcarcinoid.org), a non-profit charity dedicated to finding a cure for Carcinoid and Neuroendocrine cancers.Kaufer has a degree in computer science from Harvard University.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $2M–$3.4M |
| Series A | $1.5M–$13M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Internet | 2 | 20% |
| B2B | 1 | 10% |
| Web3 | 1 | 10% |
| Events | 1 | 10% |
| Travel | 1 | 10% |

21 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 3 | 30% |
| Seed | 2 | 20% |
| Funding Round | 2 | 20% |
| Pre-Seed | 1 | 10% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 4 | 40% |
| Spain | 1 | 10% |
| Philippines | 1 | 10% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cruisebound | Cruisebound is a travel agency on a mission to make the joy of cruising available to the masses by simplifying the booking experience. | $13M | Series A | Oct 02, 2024 |  |
| Ediphi | Ediphi provides hospitality training with the use of VR and AR in metaverse. | $1.5M | Series A | Sep 04, 2024 |  |
| Acelab | Acelab is building the operating system for the $2.4 trillion building materials industry, transforming how architects, designers, and building owners discover, specify, and manage material decisions for construction projects. The company's AI-powered platform serves as a comprehensive material intelligence hub that solves a critical painpoint in the architecture and construction workflow - the fragmented and outdated process of researching and selecting building materials. By creating a centralized database with advanced search capabilities, intelligent recommendations, and collaborative project management tools, Acelab connects architects who specify materials with manufacturers who supply them, while streamlining the entire decision-making process from design through procurement. Founded by second-generation architect Vardhan Mehta and led by Executive Chairman Dave Lemont (former CEO of Revit), Acelab is positioned to become the essential infrastructure that powers material decisions across the global construction industry. | $5.3M |  | Jul 11, 2023 |  |
| Cruisebound | Cruisebound is a travel agency on a mission to make the joy of cruising available to the masses by simplifying the booking experience. | $10M | Series A | Jan 18, 2023 |  |
| Tagg | Tagg is an app that lets content-creators earn crypto for being engaging. Our platform uses web3 elements (tokens) to reward content-creators for building personalized profiles, curating links, and posting content. | $2M | Seed | Dec 17, 2021 |  |
| Tagg | Tagg is an app that lets content-creators earn crypto for being engaging. Our platform uses web3 elements (tokens) to reward content-creators for building personalized profiles, curating links, and posting content. | $2M | Pre-Seed | Dec 17, 2021 |  |
| Hellotickets | Hellotickets is a ticketing platform designed for selling tickets for leisure and cultural events to international travelers visiting the US or London. It was founded in 2016 by Alberto Martínez and Carla Mouriño and is based in Madrid. | $3.4M | Seed | Jan 10, 2020 |  |
| Hellotickets | Hellotickets is a ticketing platform designed for selling tickets for leisure and cultural events to international travelers visiting the US or London. It was founded in 2016 by Alberto Martínez and Carla Mouriño and is based in Madrid. | $2.2M | Seed | Dec 26, 2019 |  |
| BetterLesson | BetterLesson was founded by a group of teachers from Atlanta and Boston public schools to connect educators and help them create, organize, and share their curricula. They are focused on transforming the professional development space by empowering teachers to learn as quickly as possible what works best for their students. | $1.6M |  | Sep 28, 2011 |  |
| BetterLesson | BetterLesson was founded by a group of teachers from Atlanta and Boston public schools to connect educators and help them create, organize, and share their curricula. They are focused on transforming the professional development space by empowering teachers to learn as quickly as possible what works best for their students. | $1.6M | Series A | Sep 28, 2011 |  |

10 of 10 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Pillar VC](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pillar-companies-2) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Bonsal Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bonsal-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Flybridge](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/flybridge-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Lánzame Capital SL](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lanzame-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [New Markets Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/new-markets-venture-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [NewSchools Venture Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/new-schools-venture-fund) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## About Give Freely

VC Fund



1 contacts available at Give Freely.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Steve Kaufer | CEO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/steve-kaufer |

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## FAQ

### What does Steve Kaufer invest in?

Steve Kaufer invests primarily in Internet, B2B and Web3 startups, most often at Series A and Seed stage. Most of the 10 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Steve Kaufer's check size?

Steve Kaufer typically joins rounds of $2M–$3.4M at Seed and $1.5M–$13M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Steve Kaufer participates in.

### When did Steve Kaufer last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Steve Kaufer closed in Oct 2024. Shizune tracks 10 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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