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You might have seen Trivium feature “Grid” before. It has since pivoted from a dating app to a social experience, helping to fix the loneliness epidemic.
Summary
On The Grid is a location-based social discovery app that connects people through shared interests and real-world experiences. Users find events, venues, or activities, then match with others who want to go to the same places. Users can import places directly from Reels and TikTok and our AI agents will summarize and save those places to your Grid. Next time you open the app, all your places will be saved and you can connect with other people who want to check out the same places.
Context
Nearly 60 million U.S. adults suffer from mental illness; loneliness and isolation are top contributors.
Social apps have replaced our innate human desire to connect—41% rise in "hopelessness" among high schoolers in the last 15 years.
Cultural shifts toward third places (run clubs, supper clubs, analog cafes) signal demand, but lack technological infrastructure to scale.
Current mental health startups focus on reactive, fragmented solutions rather than root-cause prevention.
Website
Hamilton Alumnus Founder
Jarod Estacio | Co-Founder & CEO Jarod Estacio is a technology entrepreneur with experience across product development and early go-to-market strategy. Prior to starting Grid he was helping other founders scale GTM at First Round Capital. Jarod is a graduate of Hamilton College.
Kevin Aspesi | Co-Founder & CTO Kevin is a technical powerhouse with AI application development experience at Fortune 500 companies including Visa and C3.ai. He and Jarod have collaborated since 2016 when they placed 10th nationally as D1 rowers—a testament to their ability to execute under pressure as a team.
Quick Facts
HQ: New York, NY
Employees: 2 FTE
Sector & Business Model: Consumer Social | B2B Venue SaaS | AI Agents
Unit Economics: $0 CPI; 1M+ organic reach on social media with no advertising
Revenue to Date: First three design partners signed pre-app launch. Discounted rate of $10/month per venue
Lead Investors thus far: Stoic Capital, Jonathan Badeen (Tinder Co-Founder & CPO), Upal Saha (Silo & Bem.ai Co-Founder)
Clients: East Village Vintage Collective
Target Raise: Not specified, reply to this email for the deal portal ⬇️
Market Size: TAM $70B | SAM $1B | SOM $21M
Initial Diligence
Strengths
Strategic Cap Table: Investment from Tinder co-founder Jonathan Badeen provides direct domain expertise in social apps. Additional backing from YC founders and Silo operators adds operational credibility.
Capital Efficiency: Social channels and pre-launch hype prove strong B2B interest.
Partnership Traction: Felix Empanadas and Gnocchi Bella first customers
Differentiated Moat: Location-first matching creates natural conversation starters and aligned incentives—users and venues both benefit when people meet IRL.
Weaknesses
Monetization Unproven: B2B venue model is logical but early; unit economics on venue ARR not yet demonstrated at scale.
Try It Out!
Reply to this email for the pitch deck and/or an introduction to the founder(s) ⬇️
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Trivium Venture Network is a registered LLC. Nothing in this content constitutes investment or legal advice. The information provided should not be used as the basis for making investment decisions. Readers should conduct their own research and consult with investment advisers before making investment decisions.
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