Lightspeed

Here it is, another round of our Financing Spotlight! Congratulations to these Lightspeed-backed companies on their recent financings: → Eon.io, a next-generation cloud backup solution that introduces the first backup autopilot for cloud infrastructure. Cc: Co-Founders Ofir Ehrlich, Gonen Stein, and Ron Kimchi → Air Doctor, provides a global medical network and makes it accessible for anyone looking for private medical care while traveling abroad. Cc: Co-Founders Jenny Cohen Derfler, Yam Derfler, Yegor Kurbachev, and Efrat Sagi-Ofir → Avarra, an enterprise AI-simulation that delivers realistic 3D AI avatars trained from transcripts and best practice playbooks that accurately simulate customer sales calls. Co-Founders David Knight, Matt Huang, Scot McIntosh, and Christopher Iezzoni

Congratulations to the Avarra team on securing $8M in seed funding. Lightspeed is proud to be leading this round and be a part of this journey.

This week, Michael Mignano is joined by Semil Shah, Haystack’s Founding General Partner and Venture Partner at Lightspeed for a special quarterly episode of the Generative Now Podcast. They discuss how, in today’s seed investment landscape, startups often fall into one of three conceptual 'buckets' based on their relationship with AI: AI-native, AI-adjacent, or AI-integrated. While this isn’t a formal framework, it provides a helpful way for entrepreneurs to position their companies in a way that resonates with investors. Choosing the right category can strengthen investor confidence and increase the chances of raising a successful round. Watch the full episode and don’t miss part two of their conversation coming next week: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3ZMSqyb Apple: https://apple.co/3zGvh67 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3zLhtqU 

At Mantis Venture Capital, our LA Tech Week Closeout Event has always been about building real, meaningful connections. This year, we’re excited to co-host with our friends at Lightspeed and bring together founders, investors, and innovators in the tech space. If you’re looking to network and celebrate with some of the brightest minds in the industry, register for the event to join us on Friday, October 18th. A big thank you to our sponsors: SVB, PwC, Goodwin, Carta, and Google Cloud. If this sounds like your kind of event, hit the link below and register on the Luma event page —we’d love to see you there! https://lu.ma/s56vp3er

Over the past decade, robotic process automation (RPA) has emerged as a mainstream solution, automating repetitive tasks across various sectors. RPA changed the game but that was only the beginning. With a staggering 30-50% failure rate, many RPA projects have struggled due to their brittle nature—any UI change can cause the bot to stop working or become ineffective. Now, we’re evolving past RPAs with the integration of computer vision and large language models (LLMs) paving the way for a new era of automation. These advanced bots will function like intelligent workers, capable of learning and adapting in real-time—much like a new employee who begins with instructions but grows through experience. Swipe to see our four key predictions for success in agentic automation and explore more insights in our blog: https://lnkd.in/dwwKV2VR

✨ Ignite the power of generative AI at SF Tech Week ✨ 📅 October 7-10: Join AWS Startups for a thrilling lineup of events! From groundbreaking cybersecurity insights to fintech breakthroughs, explore how AI is shaping the future of industries and driving innovation. 🔐 Cybersecurity Talk with Bain Capital Ventures 🔓 Cyber60 Report Preview with Lightspeed Venture Partners & Fortune 💼 Disrupting Fintech Panel with Puzzle 🧩🚀 💻 Scaling Gen AI in the Enterprise with AWS' Jon Jones 🌱 AWS Seed Founder Summit with Anthropic Don’t miss out! 🔗 Register here: https://go.aws/3TNOlWJ #AWSStartups #SFTechWeek #generativeAI #Cybersecurity #Fintech #AI

When Her hit theaters more than ten years ago, the idea of building an emotional connection with a voice-driven AI seemed far-fetched. Well, fast forward to today, and that fantasy is looking more like a blueprint for what's to come. Since ChatGPT's launch, we've seen rapid advancements, especially in voice AI. While companies have used voice applications to communicate with customers for decades, we’re now entering a new era where software can engage in human-like conversations.    With advancements improving key aspects like latency, tonality, and responsiveness, the voice applications market is expected to grow by 4X or more. Currently, AI-driven voice apps rely on three core architectures: one for converting speech to text (STT), another for interpreting the text (TTT), and a third for generating intelligent responses through text-to-speech (TTS). In the short term, success will come from focusing on specific verticals like healthcare and hospitality. In the long term, AI-driven voice apps are anticipated to integrate into broader SaaS platforms, dramatically expanding the market’s potential. Learn more about the key players, their roles in the ecosystem, and the future of Voice AI in our latest blog: https://lnkd.in/epKQFhSV Cc: Lisa Han

Traditional cloud backups can be a hassle with manual steps, high costs, limited flexibility, and a lack of data context. Eon.io simplifies things by automating processes, using smarter storage, and making it easier to restore exactly what you need. Congratulations to Co-Founders Ofir Ehrlich, Gonen Stein, and Ron Kimchi, on your launch from stealth and raised a total of $127 million in funding. We look forward to working with them as they move into this next phase. Read more about Eon’s mission to provide a comprehensive solution to simplify and secure cloud backup and recovery here: https://lnkd.in/ek3-4AuW Cc: Tal Morgenstern

At Lightspeed, we bring together founders, investors, and industry leaders at events around the world—from intimate fireside chats and insightful panel discussions to immersive experiences. These gatherings spark valuable discussions on innovation, growth strategies, industry trends, and more. Swipe for a look at some recent highlights, and visit our events page to explore recaps and photo galleries. If you attended, you might even spot yourself in the photos. Check them out here: https://lsvp.com/events/

It’s Friday which means… 🚨Our latest Financing Spotlight is here! Congratulations to these Lightspeed-backed companies on their recent financings: → Glean, an enterprise AI platform that collects, manages, and analyzes data to help organizations make informed decisions and improve productivity. cc: Co-Founders Arvind Jain, T.R. Vishwanath, Piyush Prahladka, and Tony Gentilcore → P0 Security, the first solution to give security engineers a unified offering to secure cloud access for all identities, without impacting developer productivity. cc: Co-Founders Shashwat Sehgal, Gergely Dányi, and Nathan Brahms → arqu, transforms the wholesale insurance brokerage experience with technology that improves the wholesale servicing model. cc: Co-Founders Chi Lee and Christopher Levine.