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☆ This defense-tech startup bootstrapped its way to nearly $30 million in revenue. Now, it has another $35 million from Sapphire Ventures.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Now, Defense Unicorns, a startup that creates open-source software for national security systems, has announced it raised $35 million in a round of funding led by Sapphire Ventures and Ansa Capital. The world of open-source software for the military is small, making the opportunity much greater. TestifySec, a tiny startup building open-source software for the Department of Homeland Security, raised a $6 million seed round last fall. This year, Defense Unicorns says it will use the initial round of funding to go on a hiring spree. Defense Unicorns will compete for talent in artificial intelligence with tons of other startups.

Persons: —, Jai Das, Rob Slaughter, Das, siphoning, Slaughter, it's, Lockheed Martin Organizations: Service, Sapphire Ventures, Unicorns, Business, Defense Unicorns, Ansa, Department of Defense, Air Force, Lockheed, Department of Homeland Security Locations: Chicago

☆ '2024 will be the year of the zombie VC reckoning.' The first wave of dying venture firms is here and it's already causing headaches for tech founders.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

AdvertisementUnlike other businesses, venture firms do not suddenly go out of business. Why it is so difficult to spot a dying fundOpenView Venture Partners announced in December it was suspending new investments and laying off staff. With the help of Pitchbook, BI looked through data for hundreds of venture firms. Hinge last raised a $19 million fund in 2021 but has not made an investment since November 2022, according to Pitchbook. Do you know of a venture firm no longer actively investing?

Persons: —, VCs, Anna Barber, they'll, they're, Roy Bahat, Brian Brackeen, they're reallocating, Beezer Clarkson, Clarkson, Jake Saper, Bahat, Jordan Fudge, Zachary White, Carlos Adame, Fudge, We're, Paul Weinstein, Weinstein, Cofounders Ryan Swager, Brandon Zeuner, Louie, Alsop Louie Partners, Partners Gilman Louie, Stewart Alsop, Jason Preston, Partners Tyler Peterson, Mike Morgan, Robert Patterson, DEFTA, George Hara, Martin Gedalin, Kevin Ober, Hone, Ben Bergman Organizations: Service, Business, Bloomberg Beta, Lightship, Sapphire Partners, BI, Sapphire Ventures, Venture Partners, Foundry Group, Sinai Ventures, Sinai Capital Partners, Capital, San, Louie Partners, Partners, Ventures Peninsula Ventures, LinkedIn Locations: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Mateo , California, Seattle, Alto, bbergman@insider.com

☆ AI startup Glean lures Citigroup as investor at $2.2 billion valuation after revenue quadruples
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Arvind Jain, co-founder and CEO of Glean, makes a selfie with employees of the startup, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif. Artificial intelligence startup Glean attracted tech companies Databricks and Workday into its latest investment round. Glean, whose software sifts through corporate repositories to provide quick answers to workers' questions, said Tuesday that it's raised $200 million at a $2.2 billion valuation. Glean's annualized revenue at the end of January was $39 million, up from $10 million a year earlier. While Glean initially targeted the tech industry, it's now looking to expand in financial services, retail, manufacturing and other sectors, Jain said.

Persons: Arvind Jain, it's, Kleiner Perkins, Arvind Purushotham, OpenAI, Jain, Glean, Purushotham, Citi hasn't, Cathy Gao Organizations: Wall, Banking, Citigroup, Lightspeed, Sequoia, Citi Ventures, CNBC, Microsoft, Google, Sony Electronics, Citigroup's, Citi, Nvidia, Sapphire Locations: Palo Alto, Calif, LLMs, OpenAI, Glean

☆ Nvidia is the bellwether for generative AI demand, says Sapphire Ventures' Cathy Gao
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailNvidia is the bellwether for generative AI demand, says Sapphire Ventures' Cathy GaoCathy Gao, Sapphire Ventures partner, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss Nvidia's quarterly earnings results, what it means for the AI ecosystem at large, and more.

Persons: Cathy Gao Cathy Gao Organizations: Nvidia, Sapphire, Sapphire Ventures

☆ Paper, the online tutoring unicorn, just had a second round of layoffs. The cuts come a year-and-a-half after raising $270 million in Series D funding.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Paper, an edtech unicorn focused on online tutoring for K-12 students, has laid off staff. The cuts come as edtech startups are facing increasing pressure amid a downturn. The Canadian online tutoring startup Paper has laid off 106 employees, or 4% of staff, Insider has learned. Unlike other online tutoring companies, the bulk of the startup's online tutors are categorized as employees, not contractors, according to Paper's website. Other prominent edtech startups including Byju's, GoStudent, and Degreed have also cut jobs in the past year.

Persons: Slack, we've, Cutler Organizations: Employees, SoftBank Investment, Sapphire Ventures, Los Angeles Unified Locations: Canada, Los Angeles

July 11 (Reuters) - Sapphire Ventures plans to invest over $1 billion in AI enterprise startups, doubling down on the technology's adoption by companies across the world, its president Jai Das said at the Reuters MOMENTUM conference in Austin on Tuesday. The $1 billion in capital will come from Sapphire's existing funds, which have $10 billion under management and about $3 billion waiting to the deployed. The majority will be a direct investment in AI startups, while some capital will also go to early-stage AI-focused venture funds through its limited partner fund. Over $40 billion has been invested into AI startups in the past six months, accounting for nearly a quarter of overall startup funding, according to PitchBook data. With headquarters in Austin, Texas, Sapphire has invested in AI-powered enterprise startups including Clari and DataRobot.

Persons: Jai Das, it's, Sapphire, Das, Krystal Hu, David Evans, Deepa Babington Organizations: Sapphire Ventures, Thomson Locations: Austin, Austin , Texas

☆ Exclusive: How this under-the-radar VC landed a $27 million third fund and bets in some of the buzziest startups like Jasper and Motherduck
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Essence VC has raised its third fund of $27 million from LPs like Cendana and Sapphire Ventures. The fund has bet on buzzy startups like generative AI darling Jasper and a16z-backed Motherduck. And now, his firm Essence VC has just raised its $27 million third fund. The latest fund, backed by VC firms and funds of funds including Cendana Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Level Ventures, and Crossover, follows a $7 million and $1 million fund. However, the "first-mover advantage" for startups also holds true in the land of VC, Chen says.

Persons: Jasper, Tim Chen, you've, Liz O'Sullivan, Vera, Chen, Scott Shi, —, Chi Zhang, Tim, Zhang, funder Chen, Christos Kozyrakis, Michael Huang, They're, it's, Ben Van Roo, Van Roo, Chen wasn't Organizations: Sapphire Ventures, Cendana, Vintage Investment Partners, Level Ventures, Founders, Stanford, Cloudera, Google Locations: a16z

☆ Leaders like Elon Musk want to pause AI development, but the power of the free market means it's impossible to stop
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk and other business leaders signed a letter urging a six-month pause in AI development. From the moment the public was allowed to start testing OpenAI's GPT-3 in November, there was no stopping the bullet train of generative AI development. And the power of market forces means that there's no stopping the pace of AI development, even if companies like OpenAI wanted to. The train has left the station, and there's no going backSince November, and arguably even before, generative AI has been the technology on everyone's lips. Even if we wanted to pause AI development, there's not a clear way to enforce itThere's also the problem of enforcement.

☆ Emerging venture fund managers had few banking options to begin with. After Silicon Valley Bank's collapse, where do they turn now?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Melia Russell | Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Silicon Valley Bank had long banked a class of startup investors known as emerging managers. He was able to quickly switch from Silicon Valley Bank with an email to his contact at AngelList. Novak is part of a contingent of investors who are shifting their banking strategy in the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank's failure. After Silicon Valley Bank's demise, the big banks have gotten more selective, the three investors said. The big banks like JPMorgan set account minimums for its private banking group, locking out emerging fund managers.

At some Silicon Valley Bank branch locations in California, depositors gathered early Friday to attempt to get their cash out, fearing it could be inaccessible in the coming days. It has had financial relationships with a who’s who of Silicon Valley firms over the years, including Snapchat's parent Snap Inc (SNAP.N). A locked door to a Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) location on Sand Hill Road is seen in Menlo Park, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. A Silicon Valley Bank spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment sent Friday. As of Friday, FarmboxRx’s funds were still tied up with Silicon Valley Bank.

☆ Investors and techies gather in San Francisco to bathe in generative A.I. hype sparked by ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

They were there to discuss the latest craze capturing the attention of the tech world: generative artificial intelligence. The underlying AI software powering ChatGPT, a kind of machine-learning technology known as a "large language model," isn't new. As Bessemer Venture Partners' Sameer Dholakia told audience members, generative AI could change "the lives of billions of people." Blackwell credits OpenAI and ChatGPT with showing people what's possible with generative AI, shining a spotlight on the industry at large. But for one day in San Francisco, generative AI was more than just a tool.

☆ Time series data startup InfluxData, used by Tesla and IBM, just raised $81 million in debt and equity with this 19-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Time series data startup InfluxData has raised $81 million in debt and equity. We got an exclusive look at the 19-slide pitch deck InfluxData used to raise the fresh funds. A startup that provides time series data analytics for the likes of Tesla, Cisco, and IBM has raised $81 million in a mix of debt and equity. Time series data refers to information gathered from sources ranging from temperature sensors to high-frequency trading data. In addition, the company has brought in a $30 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank.

☆ JPMorgan decides against prospective investment in open banking startup Yapily, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

JPMorgan has cooled on a deal to back London fintech startup Yapily, Insider understands. Discussions over a $25 million injection into the startup were at an advanced stage, sources say. JPMorgan has opted out of pursuing a strategic investment into London fintech Yapily, Insider understands. Yapily, which is backed by Square and Wise investor Sapphire Ventures, operates in the burgeoning open banking sector. The US financial giant had considered a deal that would have seen the bank inject around $25 million into the startup, one London-based source said.

☆ Dremio: 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Dremio is an open lakehouse platform aiming to reinvent SQL — a core language used to manage data — and simplify data structure. Founded in 2015 in Santa Clara, California, the company allows data teams to save time pulling insights and makes data engineering easier. With Dremio, users have the ability to access analytics and business intelligence on their data lakehouse with the same functionality as data warehouses. The company announced that it closed a $160 million Series E funding round in January 2022, which doubled its valuation to $2 billion. Insight Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint, Cisco and Sapphire Ventures are among Dremio investors.

☆ Supply-Chain Tech Provider Project44 Delays Potential Public Offering
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Paul Page | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Supply-chain technology provider project44 has postponed plans for a possible public stock offering amid the uncertainty in markets, and instead is turning to more venture-capital investment to expand its business tracking goods through global transportation networks. Funding for supply-chain technology startups has also tapered off this year, according to analytics firm PitchBook Data Inc., as venture-capital firms have reined in deal making. Mr. McCandless said project44 can continue to expand without going to public markets over the next couple of years based on its existing investment and cash flow. PREVIEWMr. McCandless said project44 was in position to file paperwork in June for a future public stock offering. A public offering, he said, would allow more venture-capital and private-equity investors to cash out in public markets while letting the company have continuing access to capital.

☆ Shopify's startup investments this year include millions into companies that focus on NFTs, Web3 apps, customer-engagement, and financial services
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

In its press release announcing the new funding, Wati said the investment was Shopify's first in a startup operating in Southeast Asia. The goal is to make Thirdweb's tools available to Shopify merchants who want to bring Web3 products and experiences to their online stores. Shopify recently participated in Gorgias' $30 million Series C round, which valued the startup at $710 million. According to the company, merchants using its technology report a 96% increase in sales on average. Flexport announced it had received a strategic investment from Shopify as part of its $935 million Series E on February 7.

☆ Read exclusive 13-slide pitch deck data startup Alation used to raise $123 million from investors like Databricks, Dell, and Thoma Bravo
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Matthew Lynley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Data startup Alation announced it raised $123 million at a more than $1.7 billion valuation. There are also smaller companies in the data cataloging space including firms like Metaphor Data, Acryl Data, and Stemma. Data tools like Alation, however, have been able to still grow and find financing, Sangani said. "When you have to make hard choices you need good data, and that logic extends to data tools," Sangani said. Databricks and Snowflake are also co-investors in data collaboration tool Hex, $900 million machine learning startup Tecton, and $4.2 billion data juggernaut Dbt Labs.

☆ POWER PLAYERS: 19 women to watch in 2022 who made partner or higher in Europe's male-dominated VC ecosystem
▼ + stars: | 2022-02-03 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Just 12% of top roles in Europe's venture-capital sector were held by women in 2021, per Atomico. Efforts to push diversity have been slow, says Mali Baum, a founding member of European Women in VC. These are the 19 women who made partner at VC firms across the region last year. At 29, Annalise Dragic became one of Europe's youngest female venture-capital partners last year after rising through the ranks at Sapphire Ventures. Due to the sheer scale of Europe's venture-capital sector, we have no doubt missed out on some partner promotions during 2021.

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