Sapphire Ventures: Fall Spotlight
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As we reflect on Q3 2024 and look toward the remainder of the year, the market presents both opportunities and challenges for investors. We’re excited by the quality of companies we’re seeing, with some growing at spectacular rates. However, we’re also seeing frothy valuations which makes disciplined investing more critical than ever.?
Q3 began with volatility in the public markets, but ended on a high note following the Fed’s rate cut. In software, the median next-twelve-month Enterprise Value/Sales multiple increased quarter-over-quarter. While a clear return to growth in software is yet to emerge, AI investment momentum provides a tangible tailwind.?
In the private markets, generative AI remains a significant driver of activity. The $158B OpenAI round underscores the ongoing consolidation at the foundation model layer where a handful of key players are establishing their dominance.?
However, I believe the real opportunities lie at the application layer, where companies are delivering solutions that are not only creating tangible business impact, but are also driving significant revenue.
As generative AI applications gain wider adoption, we’re seeing more late-stage companies coming to the forefront. Our recent investments in?Glean?and?EliseAI?reflect this trend. In addition, our investment in?Supio?alongside EliseAI underscores the rise of vertical AI. As the foundation model layer consolidates, we anticipate an increasing focus on high-impact applications, creating greenfield opportunities in sectors historically slow to adopt technology such as manufacturing, insurance, and real estate. Looking ahead, we expect 2025 to bring the rise of agentic AI, unlocking new business models and start-ups.
At Sapphire Ventures, our focus remains supporting companies poised for thoughtful scaling beyond early experimentation. We’re energized by the road ahead and are committed to backing market leaders that have the potential to drive lasting impact.
— Cathy Gao, Partner at Sapphire Ventures
Latest Investments + Exits
Congratulations to Own
Sapphire Ventures Backs Glean Series E
Sapphire Ventures Leads EliseAI Series D
Sapphire Ventures Leads Ujet Series D?
Sapphire Ventures Leads Supio Series A
Sapphire Ventures Leads Rewst Series C?
Portfolio Milestones
Congratulations to the following portfolio companies for reaching significant ARR milestones.?
Forbes Cloud 100
领英推荐
Inc. Power Partners Award
In the News
Our Partners weighed in on current market dynamics and trends across enterprise tech.
Rajeev Dham
Cathy Gao
Casber Wang
Jai Das
Featured Resources
Design software is becoming a powerful catalyst for innovation across industries, influencing everything from AI to architecture and redefining the future of technology.?
Discover the latest trends in SaaS, including projected ARR growth deceleration, rising sales quotas, and a focus on operating efficiency over aggressive growth. Download the full report for actionable insights.
In our?most recent memo, we examine a 7% year-over-year decline in venture capital investment, Q3 software market performance across public and private sectors, and key themes such as AI deployment and late-stage funding trends as we approach the end of 2024.
Watch Sapphire's 3rd Annual Hypergrowth Engineering Summit On-Demand
Check out highlights from our Summit where we explored the rise of productionalized GenAI, AI-powered DevOps, AI-integrated product strategies, the cultural shift toward AI-ready organizations, and more – now available to watch on-demand.
Find Us At These Fall Industry Conferences
“Latest Investments” refers to portfolio companies in which Sapphire’s Growth Strategy invested into during Q3 2024.“Latest Exits” refers to Sapphire’s Growth Strategy portfolio companies that had an exit via Public Listing or M&A during Q3 2024.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is intended for discussion purposes only. Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures, LLC (“Sapphire”). Sapphire does not solicit or make its services available to the public. Various pieces of Information provided reflect Sapphires’ views as of September 30, 2024. Such views are subject to change without notice. Companies mentioned in this article are a representative sample of portfolio companies in which Sapphire has invested in which the author believes such companies fit the objective criteria stated in commentary, which do not reflect all investments made by Sapphire. A complete alphabetical list of Sapphire’s investments made by its direct growth and sports investing strategies is available?here. No assumptions should be made that investments listed above were or will be profitable. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. Nothing contained in this newsletter may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular company. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Thanks for including our ARR milestone in the newsletter. We're grateful for your partnership.
Thank you to our contributors: Nino Marakovic, Cathy Gao, Rajeev Dham, Jai Das, Casber Wang, Justin Liu, Demi Obayomi, Adam Liu, Andrew Vogeley, Jason Brooke, Jane Lee, Steve Abbott, Jyoti Kukreja, Kevin Burke, Jake DellaPasqua, Lou Segall, & David Carter.