Sapphire Ventures

"At the growth stage, it’s all about execution. The biggest debate we have is whether the team can go all the way." — Sapphire Ventures Partner, President, and Co-founder Jai Das shared on the latest episode of the Origins podcast, produced by OpenLP from Sapphire Partners (the LP arm of Sapphire Ventures). With a few dozen software exits under his belt, few know enterprise investing like Jai. Similarly, Mike Maples, Jr, co-founder and Partner at Floodgate, is often credited with pioneering seed investing, with companies like Twitter, Twitch, and Lyft in his portfolio. Together, they join Origins co-hosts Nicholas Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures, and Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners, to discuss how they spot the next big winners in venture at their respective stages. Listen to the full episode linked below to hear from two of the best in venture on what it takes to identify pattern-breaking founders and companies of consequence. #OpenLP #Origins #VC 

Reflecting on one of our favorite summer moments… 💫Sapphire’s 3rd Annual Hypergrowth Engineering Summit, where we brought together 200 VPEs and CTOs from some of the most impactful startups on the planet.   We’re looking back at 4 key themes that stood out and still ring true today: 🔹The Era of Productionalized GenAI is Here: Companies are moving beyond experimentation to production deploys. Vladimir Zhukov (Head of AI/ML at Stripe) highlighted the emergence of new GenAI application patterns. Though still solidifying, these patterns will address key design considerations around infrastructure access and optimization, open vs. closed model selection, fine-tuning methods, evaluation approaches, and cyber threat defense. 🔹AI-Powered DevOps is Transforming the SDLC: Amjad Masad (CEO at Replit) noted AI's role in automating the ‘outer loop’ of software development, including requirements generation, automated testing, CD/experimentation, and more. Rama Akkiraju (VP AI/ML at NVIDIA) emphasized AI’s impact on operations management and root cause analysis. 🔹AI-Integrated Product Strategy Requires Focus on UX & Data: Continuous collection of behavioral data and user feedback are essential for refining models and delivering on a more personalized UX. Will Larson (CTO at Carta) emphasized the importance of human in the loop validations, from both back office staff and real end-users, to improve accuracy. 🔹Constructing AI-Ready Organizations Require a Cultural Shift: Charles Frye (AI Engineer at Modal) stressed the need for traditional software engineers to look beyond just their codebase. Instead, focus on data flows and data quality to become more well-rounded AI practitioners. Catch more of the highlights below or watch our full set of on-demand session replays (link in the comments) for a deeper dive into this year’s learnings. 👇 We're already gearing up for 2025 and can't wait to see you at our 4th annual! #Engineering #SapphireHypergrowthEng #GenAI

Is it too soon to judge if AI has had an economic impact? 🤔In a recent episode of SaaStock’s SaaS Revolution Show, Alexander Theuma sat down with Sapphire Ventures Partner Casber Wang to get his perspective on the current state of AI—where we are in its evolution and how he's evaluating startups in the space. For founders navigating the AI landscape, Casber also shares: 🔹What he’s looking for in companies that Sapphire invests in 🔹Why he favors founders who constantly think about talent valuation; from tracking talent to their talent bench 🔹Why building a great software standalone is rarely enough – you need to be backwardly compatible with all the other tools on the stack and nail distribution 🔹The watershed moment in AI and why its garnered so much attention from founders and media 🎧 Listen to the full episode for more linked in the comments. #AI #startups #SaaS 

Congrats to Moveworks on surpassing $100M ARR and achieving centaur status! 🎉 With an agentic AI Copilot that’s saving customers hundreds of thousands of productivity hours each year, Moveworks is helping companies unlock real value from their GenAI projects. Serving 10% of Fortune 500 employees and doubling their customer base over the past two years, they’re setting a new standard for what GenAI can achieve in the enterprise. Here’s to many more milestones ahead! 🚀 CC: Rajeev Dham & Bhavin Shah #AI #TechInnovation

Yesterday, Sapphire Ventures Partner Cathy Gao joined Bloomberg with Caroline Hyde and Edward Ludlow to talk about investing in AI and what it means to take a differentiated approach to investing in the space today. 👀 👩🔬 2023: The year of Experimentation ✅ 2024: The year of ROI Validation 🚀 2025: The year of Widespread Enterprise Adoption Check out the interview below and more thoughts from Cathy in her post (linked in comments) ⬇️ #GenerativeAI #VC

Congratulations to ujet.cx’s Founding CEO Anand J., new Co-CEO Vasili Triant, as well as the entire team on the $76M Series D! 🚀 The customer service experience can make or break a brand, yet many organizations are still struggling with outdated contact center technology that results in frustration for the consumer. Long hold times, disconnected channels, and robotic interactions have been the norm—but that’s where UJET is changing the game. With its AI-powered contact center platform, UJET is redefining what’s possible in customer service by enabling seamless, personalized interactions across every channel—whether it’s phone, web, in-app, or text. We’re proud to continue backing UJET, which has been purpose-built with AI in mind from day one, as they lead the next wave of innovation in the contact center industry. Read more about why we’re excited to lead UJET’s Series D in the comments.👇 CC: Jai Das, Cathy Gao, & Justin Liu #CustomerExperience #CompaniesofConsequence #AI

If you could bring one piece of futuristic tech from movies or books into reality tomorrow, what would it be and why? NYSE caught up with Sapphire Ventures' President, Partner, and Co-Founder Jai Das at Fortune Brainstorm Tech to ask this very question and more in their annual ‘Future in Five’ Series. 🎥 Catch Jai’s full response below and watch more from the series (link in comments). #Innovation #FutureOfTech

It’s feeling like 2021 again with AI startups in high demand, raising back-to-back funding rounds at astonishing valuations. 🚀 Sapphire Ventures President, Partner, and Co-Founder Jai Das shared with Business Insider his advice for founders in this position: take the capital if you can, because you never know what might happen in the future, but spend it wisely. Overcapitalization can lead to complacency and reckless spending, especially with overhiring, which can derail long-term growth. Despite a challenging market, AI companies with solid business models are standing out. For example, Glean, a recent Sapphire Ventures investment, more than doubled its valuation this year, raising $460M in just a few months—a testament to the power of delivering real value. Read the article linked in comments for more. #VC #AI

ICYMI: Last month, EliseAI announced its $75M Series D, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to lead the round, welcoming Minna Song and the entire team to the Sapphire Ventures family. Since then, Cathy Gao caught up with Minna to talk about how EliseAI is improving the entire renting experience for both consumers and renters alike, its expansion into healthcare, and what the future holds for the conversational AI platform. Check out the video clip below, and read more in our blog (link in comments). CC: Paul Levine, Demi Obayomi, & Aditya Reddy #AI #CompaniesofConsequence #VentureCapital

Is AI going to kill software? This is a question we’ve heard many times in the past year. Our short answer – No. At Sapphire Ventures, we’ve seen how progress in AI has led to even more software being developed to automate even more workflows and tasks across many job functions. In our latest market memo, we share 6 reasons why we remain bullish on AI’s impact on software.👇 1️⃣ AI is going to massively expand software’s TAM, tapping into IT spend, IT services spend, and ultimately, labor spend. AI-native systems could unlock $7.5T-$12.5T in value within a decade. 2️⃣ AI-native products will drive a new best-of-breed cycle by offering better pricing and capabilities. Early signs are emerging in data, code, customer service, and vertical applications like EliseAI and Glean, (Sapphire Ventures portfolio companies). 3️⃣ Agentic systems, like digital workers, could consolidate capabilities from multiple apps, disrupting legacy software as they shift workflows to single services. 4️⃣ “Build” won’t replace “Buy.” While AI will accelerate internal development, companies will still rely on third-party software. Building everything in-house comes with compliance, security, and capacity risks. 5️⃣ AI will drive leaner company building by reducing development costs, enabling faster prototyping, and creating more flexible GTM strategies. Companies could permanently reset cost structures. 6️⃣ AI could disrupt seat-based pricing, aligning costs with outcomes. New pricing models will offer startups competitive advantages, even as incumbents depend on higher-priced models like Co-Pilot. Download the full memo for deeper insights linked in the comments and let us know what you think. CC: Kevin Burke & Jake DellaPasqua #VC #SaaS