Sapphire Ventures

Congratulations to Benjamin Alarie and the Blue J team on the $122M Series D! 🎉 Tax advisory is a mission-critical function at the center of global capital allocation, but the tools powering it haven’t evolved to match the complexity or pace of today’s environment. Recognized by OpenAI, Blue J is building key AI infrastructure to support modern tax advisory. By combining structured legal data, specialized reasoning, and prompt engineering optimized for tax use cases, Blue J is enabling professionals to answer complex questions faster. We recently got to catch up with Ben at the beautiful Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where Cathy Gao sat down with him to talk about Blue J’s vision and the future of AI in tax. We’re proud to co-lead this round and support a team turning tax from a chokepoint into a growth engine. 💼 Read more on why we’re excited about Blue J: https://lnkd.in/g3A-z-af Cc: Cathy Gao, Jason Brooke, Andrew Vogeley

Big congratulations to our portfolio company Clari and Salesloft on the announcement of the merger! 🎉 By joining forces, Clari and Salesloft are bringing together leading revenue technologies, helping companies run revenue more intelligently with stronger data, smarter workflows, and AI that supports both teams and reps. It’s a big step forward for the future of GTM. We’re proud to continue standing behind Andy Byrne and the Clari team as they enter this next chapter and do what they do best! For more on the news, check out the post below.

“You sell on the narrative, but you close on the data.” That’s how Jai Das, President and Partner at Sapphire Ventures, summed up the dynamics behind Figma’s IPO on the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. With over two decades of investing experience and having participated as an investor in 12+ IPOs, Jai Das joined host Rebecca Bellan to unpack what Figma’s debut really signals about today’s market for startup exits. Figma’s public debut was undeniably strong, but according to Jai, the real story will unfold over the next two quarters as earnings come in and the lockup expires. 🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear what today’s exit environment means for founders, VCs, and investors navigating 2025: https://lnkd.in/gqwDCfDj

Congratulations to Kareem Amin, Varun Anand, and the Clay team on the $100M Series C! As go-to-market teams face greater pressure to do more with less, they’re also navigating an increasingly fragmented, expensive, and less effective tech stack. Enter Clay: The creative tool for growth that enables GTM teams to cut through the noise and aggregate company signals, integrate their existing tech stack, and orchestrate virtually any GTM campaign/process from a single interface. With its flexible workspace, powerful enrichment engine, and orchestration capabilities across the funnel, Clay is evolving into the central operating layer for modern GTM teams. What started as a data enrichment solution is quickly becoming the AI brain behind how high-performing teams test, personalize, and scale their boldest ideas. We’re proud to back the Clay team as they help GTM teams express the full extent of their creativity to accelerate growth. 🔗 Read why we’re excited to partner with Clay: https://lnkd.in/gtprrr8p CC: Rajeev Dham, Demi Obayomi, Aditya Reddy #CompaniesofConsequence

“Figma had a really good AI story… the market is craving not only high-growth software stocks, but AI stocks.” On the heels of Figma’s IPO, Jai Das joined The Information’s TITV Akash Pasricha this morning for a conversation with Jeff Nykun on what this moment means for the future of tech IPOs, including how investor expectations are evolving, the growing importance of AI narratives, and why performance post-IPO will matter just as much as day-one demand. 📺 Watch the full episode below.

Congratulations to Dr. Nick Taylor and the Unmind team on their $35M Series C! Organizations have long struggled to find mental health solutions for the workplace that are both effective and scalable. Unmind is changing that by blending therapy, coaching, leadership development, and science-backed AI to make personalized support accessible when it’s needed most. As Dr. Nick Taylor, CEO and Co-Founder, put it: “AI – when applied with clinical rigour, ethical guardrails, and a human foundation – is a once-in-a-generation breakthrough in mental healthcare.” We’re proud to continue backing Unmind as they bring this vision to life for more companies and teams around the world. 🔗 Read more: https://lnkd.in/gHekrYCR CC: Andreas Weiskam  #CompaniesofConsequence

A new wave of enterprise software companies isn’t just adding AI—they’re rebuilding their products around it from day one. As Sapphire’s Andreas Weiskam shares in Sifted: “AI-native startups circumvent the barrier that bigger incumbents face when trying to change a legacy tech stack or company.” This shift is transforming how B2B SaaS companies build, sell, and scale—and it’s showing up in this year’s B2B SaaS Rising 100, co-sponsored by Sapphire Ventures. 27 companies on the ranking identified as AI-native. The top nine? All AI-native. And six of those are brand-new entrants. In a market where product velocity, customer adoption, and fundraising strategy are accelerating in tandem, read more about how AI-native startups are setting the pace and quickly becoming the expectation. 📖 Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gfwtgZ8H 📥 Download the Rising 100 report: https://lnkd.in/gAgjVc2c

After a challenging start to the year, U.S. equity markets staged a historic reversal in Q2—turning early uncertainty into an AI‑fueled rally. In our July Market Memo, we unpack what drove the rebound, how public and private software markets responded, and what we’re watching in the second half of 2025. 📩 Read the full memo: https://lnkd.in/gYnNm6KS Cc: Kevin Burke, Lou Segall, & Jake DellaPasqua

The best Series C startup pitch decks feel like a mini S-1: strong numbers, crisp narrative, clear path to win. After analyzing 35+ late stage VC funding rounds YTD, I shared at TechCrunch AllStage earlier this week on what defines a breakout company in 2025. 1/ Compounding growth, not just a momentary surge $10M+ ARR and rapid growth are table stakes. What really matters is whether the business gets stronger with scale. Demonstrate that every customer interaction makes the product better, every new dollar makes it easier to get the next dollar - this is the flywheel that will build a moat. 2/ Clear one-sentence narrative on why you win Strong metrics get founders in the door, but it's not enough to secure the bag. I’ve seen great companies stall out because investors couldn’t clearly see and explain why the company ultimately wins in their respective market. The story has to be simple, straightforward, and compelling - in one sentence, why will your company win? 3/ Category leaders, not followers Series C is where investors start to look for category ownership. Which legacy companies are you displacing? Why does your market lead get wider with time? The best companies don’t just exist in a market, they reshape it in their favor. 4/ Run a targeted process, not a roadshow Founders don’t need 50+ meetings. They need the right 5 investment firms engaged, warmed up, and already leaning in. Run your fundraise like you would an enterprise GTM motion. Map your top targets early. Share steady updates and build the relationship. Pull the trigger when the timing is right. Big thanks to Dominic-Madori Davis and the TechCrunch team for having me! It was fun to be in Boston again.

Gone are the days of building on the playbooks of successful SaaS founders who came before. In today’s AI era, the most compelling companies are being built from the ground up—with new assumptions, new architectures, and a completely different pace of change. Recently on the Technovation podcast with Peter High, Rajeev Dham explains why Sapphire Ventures puts founder evaluation at the center of every investment decision, and what signals he looks for in the earliest conversations. These founders are highly technical, deeply product-driven, and grounded in first-principles thinking, reimagining how products are built, how teams are structured, and how companies scale. They move fast, design for flexibility, and architect organizations that can stay ahead in a rapidly shifting environment. 🎧 Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/gyKn4s35