Bonfire Ventures

In any business, especially software, one thing remains critical: you can build the most polished product on earth—but if you're not deeply listening to your customers, you're missing the point. Voiceops founder Ethan Barhydt recognized this early on and built a platform that doesn't just transcribe conversations—it understands, predicts, and guides. Voiceops takes everyday customer calls and converts them into real-time, actionable insights, allowing companies to understand exactly why customers buy, churn, or switch to competitors. The results speak volumes: companies using Voiceops see up to 80% higher conversion rates, dramatically reduced employee attrition, and greater alignment across sales, marketing, and product teams. Bonfire is proud to co-lead Voiceops' seed round alongside Twelve Below. Ethan, Viji Vennelakanti, and his team are fundamentally changing how companies listen—and how they act. Learn more about Voiceops' story and why we invested here: https://lnkd.in/gfVgKXGG

Thank you to Keerthi Vedantam and the Los Angeles Business Journal for the feature on my strategy. We'll always be #LongLA at Bonfire Ventures; however, it's our job to back the best founders wherever (in the US) they may be. More on how I think about Seed investing, the current market and the impact that geography plays on decision-making in the link below: https://lnkd.in/gnaxRf4g

We've entered what I call the "Change Economy" – where AI allows companies to improve products 10X faster than ever before. AI adoption is outpacing every prior tech revolution, reaching 39% of the US population in just two years. Enjoy my latest musings on: How do you evolve how you run a software company when your software now evolves at warp speed? Six areas forever that I believe are forever changed: 1️⃣ Product Development: Traditional Agile is dying as AI compresses weeks into hours. Product managers become synthesizers rather than spec-writers. 2️⃣ Messaging: When your product changes 6-12x yearly, your messaging must keep pace using jobs-to-be-done frameworks and AI systems. 3️⃣ Sales Readiness: "Everboarding" becomes crucial with AI-native enablement tools when capabilities constantly evolve. 4️⃣ Customer Education: In-product notifications and job-focused tracking replace traditional onboarding for products gaining new capabilities. 5️⃣ Pricing: A jobs-to-be-done framework helps determine what's included vs. what's an add-on when shipping monthly. 6️⃣ Roadmaps: My stance against selling roadmap is softening, but customer trust remains paramount. Those who transform their processes to match this pace will thrive; others will become irrelevant. #AI #SaaS #ChangeEconomy

Bonfire Ventures just closed $245M for Fund IV, and if you know anything about these guys, you know they’re not in the business of handing out participation trophies. They back #B2BSaaS founders who bring the fire, and not in the “nice pitch deck, here’s a check” way. More like: Got product-market fit? Got real revenue? Cool. Let’s build something huge. This isn’t spray-and-pray venture. Bonfire plays the long game. Jim Andelman and Mark Mullen built this firm on deep operational chops, battle-tested pattern recognition, and an almost unfair ability to spot companies before they pop. They’ve already backed 150+ startups, fueling them to $5B+ in annual revenue, $4B+ in follow-on capital, and $18B+ in exits. Their Series A graduation rate? 85%. That’s not luck. That’s a system. And that system,The Bonfire Way, is why founders don’t just take their money; they take their calls. They take their advice. They take their intros. Because when you raise from Bonfire, you don’t just get a wire transfer; you get a 100-day launch plan, quarterly KPI benchmarks, and a boardroom strategy that actually works. The result? Companies like Reactiv (AI-powered Shopify app builder), Boulevard (salon SaaS), and Duro (product lifecycle management) going from early traction to industry dominance. With Fund IV, Bonfire is doubling down on AI-driven #B2Bplatforms, #verticalSaaS, and #automation that cuts through inefficiency like a hot knife through… well, bad software. The team, now including Salesforce alum Brett Queener, Tyler Churchill (ex-GGV), and Jennifer Richard (ex-Battery Ventures), is locked in on finding the next wave of category-defining companies. And let’s not forget: They’re playing from a position of strength. They’ve got over $1B in assets under management, #institutionalLPs that don’t blink at market downturns, and a talent pipeline so deep they’ve got a formal internship program just for due diligence. So, if you’re a B2B SaaS founder with real revenue, real traction, and a product buyers can’t live without, Bonfire isn’t just an option. They’re the standard. And with Fund IV locked and loaded, the next era of SaaS domination is about to get very interesting. #VentureCapital #Investment #Startups #SaaS #B2B #Startups #Technology #GrowthCapital #Innovation

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our newest fund: Bonfire IV - $245M to Back the Builders Reshaping B2B Software This fund is our largest yet, with $245M in commitments from some of the best institutional and individual investors in the business. Our strategy remains unwavering: we focus exclusively on B2B software, we enter only at the seed stage, and we make just ten or so new investments per year.    Including the funds at our predecessor firms, we now manage over $1 billion in assets, we have invested in over 150 companies, we have served on over 80 boards of directors, we have helped navigate companies through over 250 follow-on financings that raised over $4bn in capital, we have supported over 50 exits with an aggregate exit value of over $18 billion, and have seen the companies we support generate in aggregate over $5bn in annual revenue. Everything we do is to further the mission of being the very best choice for the most talented B2B software founders. That is our north star. Ours is a low volume, high conviction, high support model at seed. Founders and their teams are our customers and our partners, but most of all they are our peers. We strive to always treat them the way we’d want to be treated.    For Bonfire, “B2B software” means a code-based product and a business buyer. It can be enterprise or SMB, agentic or conventional, pay-as-you-go or annual contract, seat-based or usage-based or transaction-based or outcome-based or whatever. We deliberately employ a broad definition because we continue to believe that the universe of founders will be better than us at identifying the biggest and boldest greenfield opportunities. Our approach—the “Bonfire Way”—has proven to be a winning formula. We don’t force the pursuit of unsustainable growth. We don’t just show up at board meetings. We don’t focus solely on our most successful companies while neglecting others. Instead, we show up, we do the work, we do what we say we will, and we aim to help build long-term, sustainable, impactful market leaders with sound fundamentals.  With Fund IV, we are thrilled to apply this deep experience base to assist the next generation of exceptional B2B software founders. Let’s build together, Mark, Jim, Brett, Loren, Jennifer, Tyler, Deb, Brian and Dominique You can check out coverage by Allie Garfinkle of Fortune here: https://lnkd.in/gZC4x6AV

These past weeks have shown us the true spirit of LA. As fires devastated our neighborhoods, we've watched our community step up in extraordinary ways to help those who lost everything. Since Bonfire's early days, we've seen the LA community build incredible companies while supporting one another through challenges big and small. Time and again, founders, operators, and investors across Southern California prove it's not just about what we create, but how we show up for each other. That's why we're proud to share The LA Tech Community Cares Fund, created in partnership with GoFundMe to provide direct assistance to verified homeowners, small businesses, and workers most affected by the devastation. A portion of the funds will also support the firefighting organizations that worked tirelessly to protect our communities. For those looking for a way to make an impact, join us in helping our community recover and rebuild. ❤️ https://lnkd.in/gWzdN39u

Excited to announce our seed investment in Abstract, co-leading their $4.8M round alongside Communitas Capital! 🚀 Founders Pat Utz and 👨💻 Mohammed Hayat transformed their academic NLP project into an AI platform that helps businesses anticipate how proposed changes in government policy may affect them. Along with COO Matthew Chang, they've built a powerhouse team to help companies navigate complex regulatory landscapes By synthesizing data from over 145,000 government bodies in real time, Abstract enables companies to turn regulatory challenges into strategic opportunities. What started as a thesis project has evolved into essential infrastructure for modern enterprises, with their platform already serving 200+ organizations. The team's deep domain expertise and technological innovation in this space is truly impressive. Read more about why we invested below.

🚨CalmWave, is on the hunt for a talented Data Scientist to join their mission-driven team. 🚨 What’s CalmWave all about? They’re addressing one of healthcare’s most critical challenges—reducing alarm fatigue for clinicians and optimizing workflows using cutting-edge, AI-powered solutions. Why This Role is Exciting: 🤖 Build and deploy machine learning models that have a real-world impact 📊 Collaborate with a world-class, passionate team in a dynamic startup environment 💻 Work with cutting-edge AI to solve meaningful challenges Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/gE2B_VjM

Looking for Account Executives in SF! 🚀 Truss Payments, a YC-backed fintech startup, is hiring! They’re simplifying the way construction businesses handle financial operations with an all-in-one platform for banking, payment automation, and workflow management. Truss is looking for motivated and enthusiastic founding Account Executives to join their fast-growing team. This is an incredible opportunity to dive into sales, own the full sales cycle, and make a real impact in a supportive, fast-paced environment. If you’re an excellent communicator, love problem-solving, and thrive on achieving ambitious goals, they’d love to hear from you! 📩 Reach out to learn more or apply directly.