In February 2022, Gitwit, a digital innovation agency, announced the launch of 19days, a problem-obsessed venture studio. With an inaugural $10MM fund supported by Oklahoma-based venture capital firms Cortado Ventures and Atento Capital, 19days plans to build and launch six business-to-business (B2B) tech ventures in Oklahoma.
TULSA (Feb. 1, 2022) —19days, a first of its kind, Tulsa-based venture studio, announced its initial closing of $5.5 million to rapidly build business-to-business (B2B), software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies that solve high-value problems in specific industries.
The fundraise was led by Tulsa-based venture capital fund, Atento Capital and rounded out by OKC-based Cortado Ventures and several individual angel investors.
“We’re excited to invest in Oklahoma’s first venture studio, which will be creating Tulsa-based technology companies and jobs for years to come,” says Atento Capital managing director, Will Gray. “Tulsa is becoming a national player in the technology industry, and 19days will be a key piece of this landscape.”
The 19days team and approach is designed for serial innovation, and works in quarterly cycles to move from initial problem definition to product launch every six months. With its inaugural $10MM fund, it plans to launch at least six B2B SaaS product ventures.
“With this raise, 19days will build several high growth businesses in a way that’s highly capital efficient and will drive incredible returns for our investors,” says 19days co-founder and managing partner Joey Wignarajah. “By creating new equity, investors get founder-level ownership, which creates significant value that isn’t possible in many other investment models.”
19days calls itself a “problem-obsessed” venture studio and believes the key to rapidly developing, iterating, and launching solutions is clearly defining the market or user problem upfront. As Einstein said, “If I had 20 days to solve a problem, I would take 19 days to define it.”
Yet, even in the venture studio space, this problem-first approach is uncommon. “Typical startups have to depend on securing funding and building a team around a founder with a solution,” explains 19days co founder and partner Jacob Johnson. “Our structure focuses on finding and validating a problem and market opportunity first — then we move insanely fast to build incredible software products that drive real value for the customers of our ventures.”
While in the venture creation cycle, the studio will attract top-level founders and operators to run the new companies, backed by Gitwit’s 50-person team of strategists, researchers, writers, UI/UX designers, motion artists, and engineers. The Gitwit team is no stranger to venture creation. Most recently, in 2019, Gitwit used this model to create and launch Arriv — a digital booking tool for on-demand healthcare facilities — in the span of 45 days. Arriv has become the highest converting platform in the industry and has since expanded to 30 hospitals in five states.
“With Arriv, we proved that working to understand a basic, user problem presented many opportunities to drive considerable value,” says 19days co founder and partner Dan Fisher. ”We’re excited to continue to improve the way businesses use technology to provide value to their customers.”
19days is currently seeking investors and potential founders/operators to run and grow its upcoming ventures. To learn more about 19days and its founders, visit 19days.com. For media inquiries and interview opportunities with 19days managing partner Joey Wignarajah, please contact hello@19days.com.
What is a venture studio?
Venture studios bring together entrepreneurs and industry. In collaboration, entrepreneurs identify key problems that are facing industry leaders and create solutions by rapidly building new companies to address said problems. 19days specifically focused on business-to-business (B2B) software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies that solve high-value problems.
Why is this important to Oklahoma?
19days is not just Oklahoma’s first venture studio, but this announcement signifies a significant step forward as the state continues to advance its tech industry, venture investments in startup companies, and further diversification of the state’s economy.
What does this mean for Oklahoma City?
In every investment, Cortado Ventures focuses on investment ties to Oklahoma’s leading industries including aerospace, energy, agriculture, and biosciences. With 19days working in collaboration with these industries to build solution-focused companies, this provides new opportunities for startup investments and job growth in Oklahoma City to coincide with these industries’ steady statewide growth.