Rachel ten Brink

General Partner Red Bike Capital | Y Combinator Founder | Board Member

Rachel ten Brink is General Partner and co-founder of Red Bike Capital, an early stage Venture Capital fund based in New York that invests in Vertical AI, Fintech and Health & Wellness. She is the co-founder of Scentibrd, a Y-Combinator backed ecommerce subscription that raised $30M in venture funding and is a Top YC Company by Revenue (top 2% of all YC companies). Rachel was CMO/CRO leading Growth and Revenue, scaling the company to $300M+  in revenue and signing over 74 enterprise customers. 

Rachel has been a board member and senior advisor for various companies. Before this, she spent two decades as an operator building billion-dollar brands at Procter & Gamble, Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, and L’Oreal. Rachel serves as Chair of the Board of Latinas in Tech, holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, and graduated magna cum laude from Babson College.

General Partner and Founder

Red Bike Capital is an early stage VC fund that invests in verticals that are primed for disruption and growth. 
* We invest in early stage, US-based SAAS, Health & Wellness, and Fintech. 
* We are founders ourselves, have 30+ years of experience with an authentic connection to the startup ecosystem and a strong track record in asset management, including founding and scaling a Y Combinator-backed startup to $100M in revenue, deploying $2B in assets, and sourcing deals via relationships with top founders and accelerators. 75% of our deal flow is founders referring founders. 
* We are hand-on investors, able to secure allocation in many deals delivering true value-add across GTM, Growth and Revenue. 
* Latino and woman-led early stage fund based in New York.

First day at National Retail Federation "Big Retail Show" was busy - around 40K attendees from around the world. Quick impressions:

=> AI isn’t coming. It’s here.
- 84% of retailers already use #AI across CX, GEO, marketing, etc. 
- 3 out of 4 consumers interact with AI daily- but many don't even realize the extent to which they are using it.
- But even with all this momentum, search still lags. The top use case is still basic queries like “black jeans, 32 waist.” Consumers are more educated than ever, yet tools still struggle with intent.
- Concerns remain: privacy, bias, and AI nudging unnecessary upsells. Critical to keep credibility and not become so commercial that AI recommendations loose credibility. 
- We’re heading toward agentic purchases quickly- it will start with automatic buys for items you don’t need to research.
- Much of the conversation focused on linking AI deeply to product catalogs.

=> Retail isn’t broken, but we need to revise the assumptions.
- Omnichannel will be a drain on profitability, unless you are prepared for retail - operational excellence, cash flow management, consistency.  It's easy to be everywhere- much harder to do it profitably. 
- AI is the operating system. Expectations are high but seeing real gains in supply chain, inventory, labor, routing, and reverse logistics.
- Robotics is more and more mainstream- from smart shelves, smart stores, smart vending machines, smart robots.
- Brand relationship with the consumer begins with operations. Speed, availability, and reliability represent the brand for consumers, just as much a brand story, etc.

Looking forward to what the rest of NRF brings. More to come on emerging tech tomorrow!

Karen Moon Francisco Aivado Nunes Kellie Fitzgerald Trevor Sumner Herman Goihman Fiona Tan Angie Brown Jason Del Rey  
Red Bike Capital

Rachel ten Brink is General Partner and co-founder of Red Bike Capital, an early stage Venture Capital fund based in New York that invests AI, SAAS, Fintech and Health & Wellness. 
She is the co-founder of Scentibrd, a Y-Combinator backed ecommerce subscription that raised $29 million in venture funding. Rachel was CMO/CRO leading Growth and Revenue, scaling the company to $200+ million in revenue and signing over 74 enterprise partnerships. Rachel has been a board member and senior advisor for various companies and serves on the Board of Directors of Dyper. Before this, she spent 15 years as an operator building billion-brands at Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, and Procter & Gamble. 
Rachel serves as Chair of the Board of Latinas in Tech, holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, and graduated magna cum laude from Babson College.

A whopping 70% of GDP comes from commerce + consumer spend. It's why large tech players in #AI are at National Retail Federation - specially at a time where AI is shifting from the "back of the house" cost savings (customer service, inventory management, supply chain and logistics, financial management, etc) => to the "front of the house" revenue generation- AI-enabled commerce where merchants use AI to generate attention, trust, demand, and real transaction $$$.

My last day at NRF so a few final reflections from the startup showcase and related events:
1. Agentic commerce is exciting but the consumer wow moment is still ahead.
 -> The major players like Microsoft, Shopify, Adobe, NVIDIA, PayPal and Adyen highlighted their agentic commerce visions, but there are still open questions around consumer behavior, payments flow, and validation. There is real opportunity in the gaps.
-> Startups with focused use case/deep integrations drew strong attention. Great to see Red Bike Capital portfolio companies featured: Brij Kait Stephens, which connects offline to online customers, and Flock AI Manvitha Mallela, which delivers fine-tuned branded GenAI image creation and asset management. Also exciting to see real innovation in physical retail like paper that reads weight and planograms and self-serve vending machines. 
Great to see Gary Benerofe Trevor Sumner Frederick Kahn Allen Duan Sallie Jian Darshan Shah Naveen Kumar Sam Amrani Elias Guerra Herman Goihman

2. Brands and retail are entering a new chapter. 
 • The era of cheap capital is over, sustainable growth + clear economics matter again. DTC is a launch platform but for most not a single channel
 • Retailers and young brands still struggle with forecasting and pacing distribution. The best partnerships scale gradually and let brands learn before going wide.
 • Large retailers are evolving into distribution platforms/ marketplaces, integrating AI, loyalty, and robotics to drive efficiency and customer data.
 • Consumer spending is K-shaped => top 25% of shoppers driving 75% of spend.
 • Early signals of strong brands remain consistent: retailer conviction in a category, founder quality, and repurchase behavior. Retail is still 85% of transactions.
Great insights Scott Birnbaum Michael Hershfield Carter W. Tessa Battistin

3. Leadership still matters more than ever. 
 • Be the thermostat, not the thermometer. Leaders set the tone.
 • Ask questions and resist answering first. It creates space for real insight. Your job is not to have the loudest voice but to help the team reach the best decision.
 • In moments of crisis, silence reads as guilt. Address issues directly and quickly.
Incredible 🚀JuE Wong 黄如意 Shawuan Johnson Andrea Wasserman Barbara Garces Jennifer DiPasquale Andrea Morgan-Vandome Dawn Robertson

Commerce and retail are quickly reinventing. The tools are evolving fast and leadership remains the differentiator. Looking forward to what comes next.

Day 2 at National Retail Federation "The Big Show". As an early stage VC, it's as important to understand the bleeding edge of new startups as it is to grasp exactly where the larger tech players are innovating and where opportunities still exist: 

1. Shopify and Google UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) announcement sparked a lot of conversation and tied into a bigger trend. AI Back-office automation is real. The end consumer "wow moment" is still developing. We are early, but progress is fast. 

2. The new priority is making product catalogs visible to LLMs. Companies of all sizes are drilling down to SKU and item-level data to improve AI-driven discovery. Microsoft, Elastic/Neon and many others were focused on catalog visibility that leads directly to shopping, not just brand mentions. A challenge is quality of data in catalogue feeds- garbage in/garbage out. 

3. More integrated systems- e.g. Oracle "Connected Retail Journey": Plan- Source- Buy- Market- Sell- Fulfill- Replenish

4. State of AI in commerce: 
Gymshark’s John Douglas shared some standout insights:
- As a brand, Tech is there to support growth. They are still 90% DTC but retail stores are expanding. Community is at the core
- They went headless when Shopify lagged. Now Shopify is moving so quickly that they may return to a full-stack approach- focus on what to build versus what to buy. App has become a vital connection for sales, but more critically, community.  

Best line of the day: “Most of this place is whole aisles of people trying to sell you #AI- but we're still early."

More tomorrow, including the startup insights I promised (and visit with our rockstar portfolio companies Flock AI and Brij at the show)

GTM and growth is top of mind for every founder, but particularly for Vertical #AI founders. The opportunity is huge and fast, but competition is brutal. Enjoyed moderating a breakfast conversation on how AI is reshaping business models and go-to-market strategy with the Uncharted Community. Some key learnings to share: 

1. Customer acquisition looks different in AI (but the fundamentals hold).
Cold emails and high-volume outreach are no longer moving the needle. Teams are returning to fundamentals: warm introductions, conferences and dinners, thoughtful pitches, and solving a real customer problem. Buyers want clarity and credibility. Remember B2B is still selling to people. 

Spend a lot of time upfront qualifying your customer. Are you the vendor of choice? Are they the decision maker? Who else needs to be involved? In a world where there are "experimentation budgets" and "department budgets" where does your solution get funded? Slowing down to speed up pays off.

2. PLG versus enterprise is shifting. To pilot or not to pilot- that is the question. 
AI can deliver value quickly, but scaling adoption across an organization often requires more human touch, not less. The classic try-it-free and expand motion does not always translate, and many teams are finding that a hybrid approach works better. Some founders are OK with Pilots, some trying to deliver value so fast they don't need it. Other smart founders are leveraging the insight from early clients to create a lightweight offering that can be PLG while keeping the main focus on the more integrated solution. 

3. Figuring out Pricing is tough for everyone - but AI breaks the old SaaS pricing playbook.
First of all- price is the last thing you negotiate. First you need to make sure the customer wants you and you are serving their needs. Then, figure out what makes sense. Seat-based pricing makes less sense when COGS fluctuate with every token. Founders are experimenting with hybrid models that create predictability for customers while protecting margins. Usage based pricing seems to be emerging as the preferred pricing model. 
Also make sure that if you negotiate on price, you're getting something else (logo usage, a case study). Make sure you're not setting a pattern that you will have a hard time getting out of. 

4. Differentiation is moving.
Make sure you are highlighting your value in every conversation. Features and models are commoditizing fast. The durable edge is increasingly in workflow depth, proprietary data, and distribution- build win-win solutions.

AI is not only changing the product. It is reshaping the economics, the way we sell, and the mindset required to grow.

Skyler Healy Noah Sanborn Friedman Taryn Loftus Dashell Flynn Kim Vernon Vikramaditya Sharma Alec Howard

At Red Bike Capital, we’ve been pressure-testing how #AI is impacting #commerce, always through the lens of the market: what do customers actually care about ("hair on fire problems”), what will they pay for?, what is true today and what wins long term? 

With that mindset, last night we hosted a dinner with 30 founders and operators - from global brands like Kenvue, Coty, Anheuser-Busch  Rent The Runway and Stetson to emerging brands, plus early-stage builders in the trenches. I enjoyed moderating the AI and the Future of Commerce "Jeffersonian Dinner" that was candid, spicy, and grounding - less hype, more truth. 

=> AI is here, but the rollout is still evolving
Personal adoption by brand owners has been quick (an operator talked about managing 4 brands as a one man show - with 85% AI help) but there is a feeling of being overwhelmed by the speed and range of innovation and a hunger for AI education. 
Use cases like customer segmentation, notes, data analysis are easy.  Marketing and AI personalization are imminent. But, the question of Agentic Shopping still feels very much in the future- and there are many open questions from which categories consumers are willing to let AI control to who owns the customer in Agentic shopping to payments and logistics. 

=> AI that does not diectly interact with a consumer is perceived as much lower risk. One brand owner talked about how their CS chatbot responded to customers cursing by cursing back 🤦‍♀️ 
Hence, operational tools like CS, Creative Development, Forecasting & Supply Chain, Financial planning etc are being adopted first. 

=> The human touch still matters
Whether it's real-world shopping (85% of transactions still happen in-store), heritage brands interacting with hyper loyal customers, or how a luxury brand engages with their clientele, not every interaction can be replaced by digital.  Reinforced the importance of authenticity and preserving brand. 

Thank you JPMorganChase and Cooley LLP for helping us co-host the event and to our amazing founders Kait Stephens Jonathan Wu Manvitha Mallela.  Herman Goihman
The best cohostesesTai Hutchinson Queenie Chen Liz Wafer
 Denis Descause Ambarish Gupta Arik Oganesian Luke McGurrin Karthik Shanadi Kate Sanner Andrea DiNunzio Josh Resnick John Finger Scott D. Rudin Timothy D. Malloy, Esq. Jean-Marc Lacroix Sharon del Valle Kevin Shapiro Carolina Porto Ben Jata Joshua Rockoff Martin Gilliard Max-Antonio Burger

UPDATE: We're full for tonight but please comment if you would like to join for future events. 

Ready to talk all things #AI and the future of Commerce? Red Bike Capital is hosting a small dinner for brands who are interested on how to apply AI for revenue + growth - smart conversation, sharp people, good food.

I have 2 last minute cancellations. Want to join us tonight in NYC? 
Link in comments

I am looking forward to speaking at Harvard Business School 32nd Annual Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference. We will be diving into the State of VC today.  Expect deep thoughts and spicy takes. 

If you're in Boston tomorrow, join us: 
https://lnkd.in/err5FVyg

#VC #AI 
Red Bike Capital

2026 here we go! I'll be at the National Retail Federation and the NRF VC Startup Meetup at Retail’s Big Show next week. Shoot me a note if you want to meet up. 

Excited to be diving into how #AI is shaping "The Next Now" in retail. The impact of artificial intelligence across commerce is undeniable: from discovery, to agentic shopping, to the in-store and ecommerce experience, to payments, looking forward to exploring new ideas, insights and startups that will shape this rapidly evolving space.

#retail #nrf2026

Optical satellites don't work 70% of the time.
Excited to back the most advanced SAR-to-Optical model ever built AxionOrbital Space (YC W26)

Optical satellites fail about 70% of the time, yet defense strategies and market decisions depend on visibility that can be blocked by clouds and darkness. Modern intelligence demands reliable ground truth in any weather.

AxionOrbital Space (YC W26) has built advanced SAR-to-Optical foundation models on Earth to solve this problem.

Their Deterministic One-Step architecture resets the SOTA with an FID of 30.24 and SSIM of 0.6 by anchoring generation to physical spatial priors that strictly constrain outputs to reality. Their models, Hubble (10m resolution & Open Source) and Orion (0.5m & Restricted), achieve 0.06s inference latency for live monitoring. 

From air-gapped servers to the satellite edge, you can now track any asset through day, night, or storm.

Congrats on the launch, Dhenenjay Yadav & Atharva Peshkar!

🚀 https://lnkd.in/g6ypdKnM

I think there's also a key point here on who owns the customer- if you're checking out via Gemini/ChaptGPT etc- will the merchant get the customer information? Brands and large Retailers (Walmart, Amazon, Macy's etc) can't ignore agentic shopping but they need to be strategic about handing over the keys to the kingdom.

Co-founder @ Finsi | Improving retention through data since 2014 | ex-CTO @ Scentbird

There is a lot of buzz about agentic protocols. Who will win OpenAI and Stripe or Shopify and Google. Here is my take (I know you didn't ask for it).

Let's start with e-commerce numbers:
- Shopify is approximately ~29-30% of e-commerce in the States and 12% globally
- Stripe processes ~68% of e-commerce transactions in the States and ~17%-20.8% globally
- Most Shopify transactions are processed by Stripe

So either way, Stripe wins here.

Now about the technologies. As you know, I have a bias against Google, but regardless, these guys have a history with e-commerce:
- Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages). Was promoted as extra markup including for product pages, was supposed to boost conversions, but fizzled out
- This same AMP can be embedded in email to create interactive components. Did Google do anything with this? Nope. Waymo achieved way more with it
- Google Analytics. Ask anyone what they think about GA4 and you'll hear some new vocabulary
- Google Ads. GAds is the perfect place where they could've integrated Gemini and made it a mega-convenient advertising platform. From ad strategy to analyzing current performance, from generating creatives to competitor analysis. Think there's anything there? JACK. SHIT.

OpenAI in this case is interesting because they've actively moved into specific verticals and for them it's a matter of survival. They need to show profit from somewhere. Google doesn't have this existential crisis and is much more bureaucratic.

In the end we have an equation with a huge number of variables. But there are two main variables:
- who has the bigger market in terms of chat assistant
- how ready are merchants even for someone buying something through these agents, because AEO/GEO (SEO within AI agents) is such a murky topic that there are no normal ways to grow there yet. And having direct contact with users is really necessary.

So I wouldn't make any bets here. I would enjoy the competition.

"2025 was the year AI search stepped into the spotlight. 2026 is the year it begins to scale. The future of search is not about ranking first. It is about being chosen as the answer. This report is your guide to doing exactly that."

Excited to share AthenaHQ report of one of the hottest topics in AI + Commerce => GEO/AEO/ AIO

📣  Our State of AI Search 2026 Report is here! 

The search landscape has entered a new era. Success now depends on being visible within the answers AI delivers, not just appearing in search results. Based on 8 million AI responses across leading models, explore Athena’s “State of AI Research 2026” report for industry benchmarks and insights on how visibility and trust are being redefined. 

🏛️ What You'll Learn:

- How AI search differs from traditional search: Why clicks are down and answer-share is the new currency
- What Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) really is: The strategy that helps brands be part of AI answers
- By vertical: How industries are adapting to AI-driven discovery and what teams can do to stay visible in the era of generative search
- New success metrics: What matters when AI engines are shaping discovery and decisions
- Actionable insights: How to rethink content so it gets referenced by AI systems with real examples

2025 was the year AI search stepped into the spotlight. 2026 is the year it begins to scale. The future of search is not about ranking first. It is about being chosen as the answer. This report is your guide to doing exactly that. 

➡️ Get it now. Link to report:  https://lnkd.in/e9wYAbF6

Looking forward to joining a dynamic conversation on AI, innovation, and impact with an incredible panel of leaders shaping the future of AI. Columbia Business School Women's Circle - AI Finds Her Voice: Women Leaders in AI

On March 12, we’ll explore how AI is being shaped today—through creative problem-solving, strategic leadership, and responsible design—and what that means for the future.

If you’re curious about AI innovation, ethics, and real-world impact, this conversation is for you.

🎟️ Join us — register here:
https://lnkd.in/ej8yweB5

#WomenInAI #Leadership #AI #CBSSocialImpact  #FutureOfTech
Inger Dewey Golob Elisa Douglas Jennifer Villarina Erica Duignan Minnihan Sarah Hoffman Kellie Fitzgerald

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