Industry | Venture Capital |
---|---|
Founded | 1996 |
Headquarters | Menlo Park, California, U.S. |
Key people | |
Total assets | $10.2 billion [1] |
Website | sapphireventures |
Sapphire Ventures (stylized as SAPPHIRE) is a venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Austin, and London. [2] [3] The firm is considered one of the world's premier venture capital firms. [4]
The firm primarily invests in Series B through IPO technology companies, as well as tech-focused early stage venture firms, seed, and Series A early-stage sports, media, and entertainment start-ups. [2]
Notable Sapphire-backed companies include 23andMe, [5] Alteryx, [6] Auth0, [7] Block (Square), [8] Box, [9] Current, [10] Degreed, [11] DocuSign, [12] Fitbit, [13] IAS, [14] JumpCloud, [15] Kaltura, [16] Linkedin, [17] Livongo, [18] Looker, [19] MuleSoft, [20] Monday.com, [21] Paytm, [22] Ping Identity, [23] Sumo Logic, [24] Wise (TransferWise). [25]
The firm was founded in 1996 as the venture capital arm of multinational software conglomerate SAP [26] and spun out as an independent company in 2011, rebranding to Sapphire Ventures in 2014. [27] At the time, Sapphire Ventures managed $1.4 billion and had invested in more than 125 companies, with 10 companies going public and 17 getting acquired.
In 2012, the firm launched Sapphire Partners, [28] a real-time fund [29] making investments in early-stage venture capital funds based in North America, Europe, and Israel. [30] The strategy also includes direct co-investing alongside Sapphire Partners' GPs. [31]
In 2015, Sapphire partnered with technology companies Cisco Systems and Siemens to co-host the first industry summit on the Internet of Things, named "IoT: Empowering The Enterprise" in San Jose, California. [32] [33] Sapphire had been an investor in Control4, [34] an IoT company which completed its initial public offering in 2013. [35]
In 2019, the firm launched Sapphire Sport, [36] a fund dedicated to backing companies at the intersection of sports, media, and entertainment. Backers of the fund included Manchester City's City Football Group (CFG) alongside owners, investors, and family offices from the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS). [37] Later in 2019, Sapphire Ventures re-launched #OpenLP, a community to foster idea sharing, open dialogue and overall greater connectivity among entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and limited partners (LPs). [38] [39] That year, Sapphire also raised $1.4 billion across investment strategies, including a $150 million opportunity fund to support larger deals. [40]
In 2021, the firm raised $1.7 billion in February [2] and an additional $2 billion in November [41] across multiple investment strategies, with its assets under management surpassing $8.8 billion. This increase in capital also allowed the firm to expand its Portfolio Growth capabilities. [42] Later that year, Sapphire made a major expansion in Europe and appointed Annalise Dragic as partner, [16] making Dragic one of the youngest female venture capital partners in Europe. [43] [44]
In 2022, Sapphire Ventures joined the board of the National Venture Capital Association [45] with one of the firm's partners, Beezer Clarkson serving from 2022 through 2026. [46] The firm additionally became the official sponsor of PitchBook's podcast. [47]
In early 2023, the firm announced a new $181 million fund for Sapphire Sport. [48]
Sapphire has funds that comprise three primary investment strategies: Sapphire Ventures, Sapphire Partners, and Sapphire Sport spanning across early through growth stages and through direct and fund-of-fund investments.
Sapphire Ventures invests in high-growth, expansion-stage technology companies, specifically focusing on artificial intelligence & machine learning, B2B SaaS, web3, cyber security, data & analytics, devops, fintech, health tech, and vertical SaaS. [49]
Sapphire Partners is a limited partner that backs early-stage tech venture funds, from seed funds as small as $40 million up to series A investors with more than $100 million in capital. [50] The strategy has invested in funds including Union Square Ventures, Amplify Partners, SaaStr, Point Nine Capital, Data Collective, and Screendoor among others. [51] The strategy was originally set up as a $405 million fund of funds and was later modified to recycle distributions to meet future contribution obligations. [50]
Additionally, along with this investment strategy, Sapphire supports an online community called #OpenLP aimed at educating venture investors and tech entrepreneurs about issues related to the venture ecosystem which it relaunched in 2019. [52]
Sapphire Sport invests in early-stage technology companies at the intersection of sport, media and entertainment. [53] In early 2019 the strategy launched a $115 million investment vehicle, [54] and in 2023 it another $181 million fund. [48] The strategy has been backed by affiliates of the world's largest and most well-known sports leagues such as City Football Group as well as Adidas, AEG, SAP, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Madison Square Garden. [55] In early 2023 Investments have included Aglet, Breathwrk, Buzzer, Fevo, Flowhaven, Green Park, Jackpot.com, Manicore, Mixhalo, Overtime, PlayVS, POAP, [56] Tonal, and Trust. [57] Exits include MyCujoo and Phoenix Labs. [58]
Sapphire's Portfolio Growth division works with its portfolio companies and venture funds to offer support in the areas of customer, partner, and executive talent introductions. [59] As part of the firm's $1.7 billion capital raise in 2021, the Portfolio Growth division saw an expansion. [42] The division also has a "centers of excellence" strategy which offers founders support with sales and GTM strategies, international expansion, insights into how CIO and CXO enterprise decision-makers evaluate new and emerging technologies, and capital market oversight. [60]
The division makes hundreds of executive talent and customer introductions each year. [61]
The firm was recognized during the COVID-19 pandemic for coming up with creative ways to guide and share playbooks developed for and during the pandemic. [62]
Since the firm's founding, Sapphire has invested in more than 130 companies across 10 countries, with more than 70 exits [62] across 30 IPOs and 45 acquisitions [63] [64] making it one of the most active venture capital firms based on public exits. [65] [66]
Notable Sapphire-backed portfolio companies that have experienced IPOs or acquisitions include:
Some of Sapphire’s current investments include: 6Sense, BetterUp, BlockDaemon, Brightfield, Catchpoint, Current, [10] Clari, Degreed, [11] feedzai, JumpCloud, [15] LeanData, Mercury, [105] Pendo, Reltio, and Tetrate. [106]
CB Insights recognized Sapphire Ventures as Top 5 VC based on participation in major tech exits. Specifically, the independent study compiled a list of VCs with at least five of the top 100 exits in the period between Q1 2013 and Q2 2015 and ranked each VC according to how many of these exits they were involved in. Sapphire Ventures was named #4 on the list with 10 exits, behind Accel, New Enterprise Associates and Sequoia Capital. [65]
PitchBook highlighted Sapphire Ventures as a Top 5 VC based on public exits in 2016. The firm was named alongside Sequoia, IVP, Accel, New Enterprise Associates, DAG Ventures, Bessemer, and Kleiner Perkins. [66]
Inc. Magazine named Sapphire Ventures a “founder friendly” investor in both 2022 [107] and 2021. [108]
In 2022, Sapphire was recognized as one of the "world's premier venture capital firms," specifically noting the capabilities of the firm to invest across verticals within software including web3 and next generation media. [4]
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, scale of operations, etc. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. Start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and they are often from high technology industries, such as information technology (IT), clean technology or biotechnology.
Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California which specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. As of 2022, the firm had approximately US$85 billion in assets under management.
Benchmark is a venture capital firm founded in 1995 by Bob Kagle, Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff, Kevin Harvey, and Val Vaden.
Khosla Ventures is a private American venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. It was founded by entrepreneur Vinod Khosla in 2004.
Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is an American venture capital firm. Accel works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional operating funds in London, India and China.
Insight Venture Management, LLC is a global venture capital and private equity firm that invests in high-growth technology, software, and Internet businesses. The company is headquartered in New York City, with offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Palo Alto.
Highland Capital Partners is a global venture capital firm with offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco. Highland has raised over $4 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 280 companies, with 47 IPOs and 134 acquisitions.
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm focusing on seed stage, early stage investments and growth stage investments in the enterprise, fintech, consumer and healthcare sectors. Lightspeed has eleven offices globally and as of 2023 had approximately US$25 billion in assets under management.
Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is a US-based venture capital investment firm focusing on fast-growing technology companies. IVP was founded in 1980, making it one of the first venture capital firms in Silicon Valley.
Bain Capital Ventures LLC is the venture capital division within Bain Capital, which has approximately $160 billion of assets under management worldwide. The firm's early-stage investments have included Attentive, Bloomreach, Billtrust, Docusign, Flywire, LinkedIn, Justworks, Turbonomic, Rent the Runway, Twilio, Rapid7, and Redis. Bain Capital Ventures manages $10 billion of committed capital, has over 400 active portfolio companies, and has offices in New York City, Palo Alto, and San Francisco.
Greycroft LP is an American venture capital firm. It manages over $2 billion in capital with investments in companies such as Bird, Bumble, HuffPost, Goop, Scopely, The RealReal, and Venmo. Greycroft was founded in 2006 by Alan Patricof, Dana Settle, and Ian Sigalow. The firm is headquartered in New York City, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Qualtrics is an American experience management company, with co-headquarters in Seattle, Washington, and Provo, Utah, in the United States. The company was founded in 2002 by Scott M. Smith, Ryan Smith, Jared Smith, and Stuart Orgill.
AH Capital Management, LLC is an American privately held venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of April 2023, Andreessen Horowitz ranks first on the list of venture capital firms by assets under management, with $42 billion as of May 2024.
Genesis Partners is an Israeli venture capital firm, founded in 1996 by Eddy Shalev and Eyal Kishon.
Balderton Capital is a venture capital firm based in London, UK, that invests in early-stage, technology and internet startup companies in Europe. It is considered to be among the four-biggest venture capital firms in the English capital.
Uncork Capital is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California, founded by Jeff Clavier. Considered one of the most active established seed funds in Silicon Valley, it has invested in companies such as Postmates, Eventbrite, Fitbit, and SendGrid.
Alteryx, Inc. is an American computer software company based in Irvine, California, with a development center in Broomfield, Colorado, and offices worldwide. The company's products are used for data science and analytics. The software is designed to make advanced analytics automation accessible to any data worker.
Lowercase Capital was an American venture capital firm that provided seed and early-stage funding for several successful startups, including Twitter, Twilio, Kickstarter, Uber, Instagram, and Stripe. It raised over $1 billion in capital, and sources claim a return of at least $5 billion to its investors. In 2017 Chris Sacca closed the fund for new start-up investments to focus on climate action and politics. He said, however, that Lowercase Capital would continue to support the existing portfolio of investments.
Arjun Sethi is an American internet entrepreneur, investor and executive. He is co-founder and partner at venture capital firm Tribe Capital. Previously, he was a partner at Social Capital and an executive at Yahoo!, where he launched Yahoo! Livetext. Prior, he was co-founder and CEO of MessageMe and was the CEO of Lolapps, the developer behind Ravenwood Fair. In December 2023, he became Tribe Capital's chairman and CIO.
Molten Ventures, formerly Draper Esprit, is a British venture capital firm, investing in high growth technology companies with global ambitions. The firm has offices in London, Cambridge and Dublin. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)