Sapphire Ventures

📢 Just released—Our September 2024 Market Memo takes a look back at Q3 software performance across public and private markets and the trends shaping the rest of the year. 👀 🔹 AI dominance continues: Generative AI remained a key driver of activity, with some of the largest rounds this quarter, including $1B for Safe Superintelligence and multiple $500M+ rounds. 🔹 VC investment slowdown: A particularly weak August, combined with soft activity in July and September, resulted in Q3 marking the lowest monthly and quarterly funding totals we’ve seen in years. 🔹 Public market resilience: Despite turbulence earlier in the quarter, U.S. indices ended Q3 higher, with the Nasdaq up 3% and the S&P 500 up 5%, following the Fed’s first rate cut in September. 🔹 Late-stage funding comeback: After several quarters of decline, late-stage funding rebounded in Q3, exceeding 40% of total investment—potentially signaling a shift in market dynamics heading into 2025. 🔹 Macro forces at play: Interest rates, employment, wars, weather, and the U.S. election are key forces shaping market sentiment as we look ahead. Check out the chart below for a breakdown of the largest Generative AI and enterprise software rounds in Q3 2024, and download the full memo for more (Link in the comments) 👇 CC: Kevin Burke, Lou Segall, & Jake DellaPasqua #VentureCapital #EnterpriseSoftware #SaaS

We’re excited to share that Sapphire Ventures has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as a Founder-Friendly Investor for the 4th consecutive year! 🎉 Huge thank you to our portfolio companies for allowing us to partner with you on your journey. This recognition is a testament to the power of collaboration and the importance of entrepreneur-investor fit. We’re proud to support your vision and help scale your business to the next level 🚀 Check out Inc.'s Founder-Friendly Investors (link in the comments). #FounderFriendly #VentureCapital

📢 Catch up on the latest — The Sapphire Ventures Fall Spotlight Newsletter shares our perspective on the market and our top highlights from Q3: 🚀 We were thrilled to lead investments in EliseAI, ujet.cx, Supio, and Rewst and back Glean’s Series E. 👏 A big congratulations to Own Company for signing a definitive agreement to join the Salesforce team! 🎉 And cheers to our portfolio companies monday.com, Huntress, and Moveworks that all reached significant ARR milestones in Q3. 📰 Cash flow challenges, AI investments, and navigating defense tech—our Partners shared their perspectives on the hottest trends shaping the tech landscape, featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Fortune, Business Insider, PitchBook, and more. 📚 We shared key resources with our community, including the 2024 KeyBanc Capital Markets & Sapphire Ventures SaaS Survey, our monthly market memo, and a market landscape covering the latest trends and startups in design software. ➡️ Sign up for our Spotlight newsletter below to be the first to see the latest from Sapphire: https://bit.ly/4focIT9 #VentureCapital #AI #SaaS

Congratulations to the following current and exited Sapphire Ventures portfolio companies for being recognized in Inc. Magazine’s Power Partner Awards, celebrating top-tier B2B partners worldwide! 👏BetterUp 👏Braze 👏Docusign 👏Huntress 👏Own Company We’re proud to back these visionary teams providing entrepreneurs with the tools and resources they need to start, run, and grow their business. See who made the list (Link in comments). #CompaniesofConsequence #VC #B2B

🚨Just Released! 🚨For the second year in a row, we’ve teamed up with KeyBanc Capital Markets to release the 2024 Annual SaaS Survey. Now in its 15th year, the benchmarking report serves as a key resource for measuring financial and operating performance for private SaaS companies across the industry. 📈 The biggest trend we’re seeing? A shift towards future growth, driven by companies doing more with less, macroeconomic optimism, and excitement around AI innovation. Key insights include: 🔹ARR growth is expected to slightly decelerate to ~19% in 2024, with gross and net retention rates remaining stable at ~90% and ~101%, respectively. While 19% is not high by historical standards, it is close to 2x public SaaS company growth in 2024, which averages 11% (as of October 2024). 🔹Sales quota attainment held steady at ~70% in 2023 but is projected to increase to ~75% in 2024 as the macro environment improves. Meanwhile, sales quotas have risen from ~$650K in 2022 to ~$750K in 2023 and 2024. 🔹Operating efficiency and EBITDA margin improvements are taking priority over aggressive growth strategies, with budget cuts continuing, especially for companies >$50M ARR. Download the full report for more. (Link in comments) CC: Steve Abbott & Jyoti Kukreja #VC #SaaS #SaaSSurvey

Many growth-stage companies that once raised billions are now grappling with tougher exit challenges and liquidity roadblocks. How are investors adjusting? And what strategies are founders exploring for the future? 🤔 Join Jai Das, Co-Founder, President, and Partner at Sapphire Ventures, and Karthik Subramanian, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, at TechCrunch Disrupt as they debate the current state of late-stage venture and provide insights on: ✅The real trends in deal activity: is the market actually bouncing back?  ✅The current state of IPOs: when will the window finally reopen?  ✅How these forces are reshaping exit strategies for founders 📅 Mon, Oct 28, 2:30 PM – 3:20 PM 📍 Moscone West in San Francisco, Breakout Stage 2 Find more information and grab your pass at the links in the comments. 👇 #TechCrunchDisrupt #VentureCapital #TCDisrupt

Last week, we had the pleasure of bringing together 20 partners at our Infrastructure Investor Dinner! 💫 It was a fantastic evening of connection and conversations around the latest developments in AI solutions, developer tools, and cybersecurity.  Thank you to all our friends who joined us from Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed, Norwest Venture Partners, and more. Our team always enjoys bringing this community together, and we can’t wait for the next opportunity to mix and mingle with some of the brightest minds in the space. CC: Jai Das, Anders Ranum, & Casber Wang #VentureCapital #Infrastructure

A much-deserved congratulations to our Partner and Head of Portfolio Growth Rami Branitzky for being recognized as a top ⭐ VC GTM Superstar ⭐ in Cory Bolotsky's latest newsletter! 10 years ago, Rami launched the Portfolio Growth platform with a mission to help our portfolio companies scale. What first started as a team of one helping facilitate customer introductions has grown into a robust GTM engine. Made up of experienced operators, Portfolio Growth plays a crucial role in helping our portfolio companies land new customers, hire exceptional talent, discover best practices in the areas of revenue and engineering excellence, and more. 🌟 Read the newsletter: https://bolots.ky/p/vc-gtm 👉 Learn more about our Portfolio Growth platform and how we help our portfolio companies scale: https://lnkd.in/gdm6XdfV #VCTalent #GTM #VentureCapital

📢 Tomorrow, Kevin Burke, Partner and Head of Strategy at Sapphire Ventures, will join an expert panel at the Mergermarket Private Equity Forum in Austin to share his VC perspective on: 💡Key drivers of technology deal flow, from software to cloud computing 💡How private equity GPs are competing with VCs and strategies for the best deals 💡GenAI: Where are we seeing real traction and where are we a few years away from seeing impact? 💡What are some top technology investment trends that venture firms predict will emerge in 2025? Joining Kevin will be an incredible lineup of industry leaders: — Martin Schwertmann, Partner at Kirkland & Ellis — Alan Cline, Head of North America at Hg — Eugene Esmonde, Co-Head TMT Private Equity at BCI — Carl Press, Partner at Thoma Bravo — Sandeep Swaminathan, Senior Managing Director at Haveli Investments Find more information at the link in the comments. It’s not too late to register👇 #GenerativeAI #MergerMarket

What’s the most pressing challenge for the next generation? In the NYSE’s FutureInFive interview series, Sapphire Ventures' President, Partner, and Co-Founder Jai Das emphasizes the need for holistic healthcare solutions: “We currently have the technology needed to provide better healthcare; it’s about implementation and making sure people can take care of themselves.” Check out the full series at the link in comments 🎥👇 #Innovation #Healthcare #FutureInFive