Kjerstin Erickson

Arising Ventures is a holding company that buys, incubates and operates high-margin technology businesses.

On a mission to build the hub for the AI Creator Economy. Try our intro product now: https://softgen.ai

Varis is an eProcurement platform revolutionizing indirect procurement for mid-market enterprises. Founded by the team that founded Amazon Business and grew it to $50B+ in spend, Varis was carved out from Office Depot Inc (ODP) by Arising Ventures in October 2024.

Jyve in the on-demand marketplace for the next generation of retail gig workers.

UpCounsel is the leading marketplace for legal services. We make hiring world-class attorneys easy, transparent, and quick - all for 1/3rd the price of a traditional law firm. It’s truly Legal you can Love 💙.

Abstract is a design intelligence platform that helps teams gather requirements, review designs, and continuously measure what works, all in one space. Abstract has been the leading platform for file-based design collaboration, helping more than 7,000 companies improve their workflows. Our customers include Microsoft, Amazon, Wayfair, Fox, and American Express.

Enduring Retail Audit is a full-service retail recovery auditing firm. We monetize profit leakage within client transactional data and develop new opportunities and revenue streams in the procure-to-pay, purchase and supply chain, and logistics/transportation systems of some of the world's largest retailers.

Public Market is an eCommerce marketplace and protocol that ensures that buyers get substantially lower prices on the same goods they’d otherwise buy on Amazon, without having to sacrifice convenience or risk. By eliminating the large commission fees charged by private marketplaces, Public Market is building a fundamentally new business model for eCommerce: one that aligns incentives between all parties and ensures efficiency-driving competition. Coming out of a year of stealth development, the Public Market product will launch in Q3 with over 10m products available from hundreds of professional sellers. Public Market's founders are successful marketplace and eCommerce entrepreneurs, having founded Y Combinator-backed Simbi (world's largest alternative currency marketplace), Monsoon Commerce (eCommerce platform that's facilitated $10 billion in sales), and Better World Books (Amazon's largest bookseller, $500m+ in sales). Combined, the founders have raised over $170m in capital from investors including Greylock, Norwest, Foundation, Maveron, Vulcan, Tesla, and DBL.

Simbi is an online bartering platform that allows for freelancers and small business owners to exchange services with each other other using a internal currency. With more than 200,000 members, Simbi offers a way for people to convert their excess capacity into real world value, for themselves and for their families. Simbi's investors include Greylock, Maveron, Norwest, and Foundation Capital. It was a member of the Y Combinator class of Summer 2016. In 2019, Simbi was acquired by Heart of Avalon, and continues to operate at simbi.com.

Shortly before and throughout my MBA program at the University of Oxford, I joined the leading nonprofit evaluation organization, GuideStar, to lead up several special strategic projects on behalf of the CEO. As such I spearheaded The Overhead Myth campaign, an initiative designed to raise awareness of the importance of overhead spending by nonprofits, resulting in major shifts in public and private philanthropic policy by the likes of the Rockefeller Foundation and more. Additionally, I designed and product managed a major new product, secured financing from the Kauffman Foundation. Finally, I designed and product managed the new Cause Explorer product, overseeing the concept through several levels of market testing and refinement.