Initialized Capital

Guide Labs Unveils Traceable Language Model Steerling-8B

Guide Labs, a San Francisco startup led by CEO Julius Adebayo and Chief Science Officer Aya Abdelsalam Ismail, open sourced Steerling-8B, an 8-billion-parameter large language model built with an architecture designed for inherent interpretability. The model includes a concept layer that buckets training data into traceable categories so each token can be traced back to its origins, enabling developers to identify reference materials and control model behavior on sensitive topics. Guide Labs says Steerling-8B achieves about 90% of the capability of larger frontier models while using less training data. The company — a Y Combinator alum that raised a $9 million seed round from Initialized Capital in November 2024 — plans to scale to larger models and provide API and agentic access. Founder Adebayo framed the approach as shifting interpretability from research to engineering.

AdQuick Raises $6M Series A To Automate OOH

AdQuick, an out-of-home (OOH) advertising automation platform, announced a $6 million Series A led by Initialized Capital, with participation from WndrCo, Shrug Capital, The Todd & Rahul Angel Fund, Michael Kassan, and Nas, bringing total funding to $9.4 million since 2017. The platform automates OOH campaign booking, optimization, and measurement, aggregating inventory from more than 1,000 US media owners, including API-enabled inventory from Clear Channel and JCDecaux. Measurement relies on Google Ads API, social network APIs, and Segment, supplemented by Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data to gauge foot traffic. AdQuick plans a programmatic RTB solution for digital billboards later this quarter. DOOH spend in the US rose over 10% to about $2.8 billion last year, roughly a quarter of outdoor ad spend per eMarketer. The company, with about 35 employees, aims to reach ~50 by late 2020 and expand beyond Los Angeles.

AdQuick Launches Look-Alike Modeling For Outdoor Advertising

AdQuick has unveiled Campaign Genius, a stand-alone outdoor advertising (OOH) planning and optimization product that uses look-alike modeling to identify affordable markets and audiences based on advertiser KPIs. The platform aggregates inventory through partnerships with billboard suppliers rather than owning media, enabling brands to plan, target, and execute buys in one place. Backed by Alexis Ohanian and Initialized Capital, AdQuick emphasizes performance with measurement built in, including direct attribution, integrations with Google Analytics and Google Ads APIs, social APIs, and aggregated geo data. In parallel, Nextdoor is collaborating with AdQuick on a four-week outdoor test in St. Louis, demonstrating Early-stage adoption of the platform. The move comes amid growing interest in digital out-of-home, with notable activity among advertisers and OOH owners alike.