SIERRA Ventures

FriendliAI secures $20M in Seed-Extension Funding! This round was led by Capstone Partners with participation from SIERRA Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Korea Development Bank, and KB Securities. As AI inference adoption accelerates globally, this funding positions us to power startups and enterprises with high-performance, cost-efficient AI inference at scale. Detailed story linked in the comments! #FriendliAI #SeedExtension #CapstonePartners #SierraVentures #AlumniVentures #KDB #KBSecurities #AI #Inference #LLM #StartupFunding

🚨 🚨 Incredible Q-CTRL news! 🚨 🚨 It's a tremendous privilege and honor to have been selected by DARPA for not one but TWO major contracts advancing #quantumsensors for #quantumnavigation. At a combined value of A$38M, these programs will be a major accelerant in our mission to make #quantumtech useful for defense and commercial applications. If you aren't familiar with just how important DARPA has been in the history of modern technology, let me share with you a short history lesson. In 1957 the soviets launched #Sputnik. The US was surprised, and it vowed never to be surprised like that again. And so the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was born in 1958. DARPA wasn't established to fund defense R&D, but rather to prevent technological surprise. DARPA has been responsible for supporting pretty much every advanced technology that shapes the modern world: mobile telecom, the internet, night vision, self-driving cars. And for the last ~20 years the agency has been leaning into the #quantum opportunity. Now, once again DARPA is leading the way in supporting real quantum #sensing technology functional where it matters - in the field - through the Robust Quantum Sensors (RoQS) program. RoQS was extremely competitive and brought out all of the biggest players. We are therefore privileged to be leading two programs, one with our friends and collaborators at Lockheed Martin. We're using our unique specialization in software-ruggedization to set new records in on-platform performance of both #quantum magnetometers and #quantum gravimeters. “U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other Federal Agencies are exploring how to use the emerging generation of highly capable, mobile quantum sensors to detect and assess mineral deposits, and to map out detailed subsurface patterns for GNSS-denied navigation. DARPA's awards to Q-CTRL illustrate the potential for impactful new use of this technology, and NASA looks forward to pursuing a deeper relationship with Q-CTRL.” - Jonathan Stock, Chief Scientist for Innovation, NASA Ames Research Center Intelligent Systems Division. “This award signifies the priority defense agencies are placing on the potential for quantum navigation solutions to deliver transformational national security capabilities that complement GPS.” -Tom Loftus, Senior Fellow at Lockheed Martin At Q-CTRL we’re honored that our recent demonstrations of successful magnetic navigation, and exciting new ideas earned our selection to deliver a new generation of software-ruggedized quantum sensors for the most challenging defense missions. We’re here to win and are excited to work with the team at DARPA for the benefit of the warfighter. Ironstone Opal Quantum Navigation: https://lnkd.in/gBgGGzST Q-CTRL Announcement: https://lnkd.in/gAKCJT4T

Transforming Voice: Market Map of 150+ Voice AI Companies We have now entered a new era. Voice AI agents are no longer research projects or demos - they’re deployed in production. Whether it’s buying or selling a house, scheduling a doctor’s appointment, or returning a purchase, there’s a chance you’ve already interacted with an AI voice agent without realizing it. What feels like a natural exchange requires sophisticated infrastructure: accurate speech recognition, context understanding, personalization, and the ability to handle interruptions or errors without sounding robotic. Customers can get turned off the moment they realize they are interacting with AI. Daniel, Tim, Anne and I looked at the voice AI market. This map contains some emerging startups solving several voice related pain points (link in comments). The future of voice AI agents is about creating companions that feel truly human. Within the next few years, voice AI will move closer to passing the Turing Test, blurring the line between human and machine conversation. These agents won’t just answer questions; they will understand context, adapt their tone, and respond with empathy, making every interaction feel natural and alive. ElevenLabs smallest.ai Cartesia AssemblyAI Deepgram Vapi Retell AI Bland Coval Ultravox.ai (formerly Fixie.ai) Sesame 11x Artisan Sierra Which ones did we miss? Please let us know. SIERRA Ventures #ai #voice #founders

The SIERRA Ventures CXO Summit is back for its 20th year! For two decades, this event has brought together F1000 CIOs, CTOs, and C-Suite leaders to explore the technologies shaping the enterprise. This year’s theme: The AI Imperative: The Urgency and Strategic Importance of AI for the Enterprise We’re excited to welcome an incredible lineup of speakers, including: • Bill McDermott, Chairman & CEO, ServiceNow • Ryan Roslansky, CEO, LinkedIn • Christian Kleinerman, EVP of Product, Snowflake • Dmitry Shevelenko, Chief Business Officer, Perplexity • Sandy Venugopal, CIO, CoreWeave • Vivienne Wei, COO, Salesforce Unified Agentforce Platform + more to be announced 20 years in and this year’s discussions promise to be the most timely and impactful yet.

Very excited about this milestone and looking forward to the next phase of the journey! Thank you Quentin Clark and Katie Keller. Looking forward to partnering with you and the entire General Catalyst team.

A major milestone for Eudia - and a deeply personal one for me. Thrilled to share that Eudia has been selected for a $1.25M contract to help the U.S. Department of the Air Force tackle one of its most complex and high-impact challenges: contracting. This marks our first entry into government - and builds on the trust we’ve earned as the Augmented Intelligence platform powering legal operations for many of the world’s leading Fortune 500 companies. What makes this moment especially meaningful is my family’s story: my father immigrated to the U.S. and joined the Army within a week of arriving. His experience instilled in me a deep appreciation for service, opportunity, and national purpose. To now contribute to the mission of our defense agencies - with technology that empowers human decision-making rather than replaces it - is deeply fulfilling as the U.S. competes on the global stage to win the AI race. This collaboration positions the Air Force at the forefront of AI innovation - but not by chasing automation. Instead, we’re bringing an entirely new approach: Augmented Intelligence that integrates human expertise directly into AI systems for faster, smarter, and more trusted outcomes. From legal departments to defense acquisition programs, we believe the future of institutional intelligence is human + AI - not human vs. AI. Learn more about what this means for the future of government operations, human-centered AI, and Eudia’s broader vision → https://lnkd.in/ghGhT4d6 #AugmentedIntelligence #AI #GovTech #AFWERX #DefenseInnovation #Eudia #FounderStory

Excited to announce that Eudia has been selected by AFWERX for a $1.25M Direct-to-Phase II SBIR contract. Our Augmented Intelligence platform can now help the Department of the Air Force solve its most pressing procurement challenges. This collaboration will “position the U.S. Air Force at the forefront of AI innovation in government operations” by “integrating human expertise directly into AI systems for maximum efficiency without sacrificing accuracy and output quality.” Learn more about the transformative power of Augmented Intelligence and what it means for the future of government operations and on our site: https://lnkd.in/gqfAP_7U #AugmentedIntelligence

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 SaaS apps were built to store data. But the winners of the AI era will be built to interpret it — in real time, with intent, and in the flow of work. In his latest blog, Vignesh Ravikumar breaks down: ✅ Why static databases are breaking down ✅ How context-driven apps unlock dynamic workflows ✅ What this shift means if you’re building today If you’re a founder, the takeaway is simple: context is the new competitive edge. Read the whole piece by Vignesh: https://lnkd.in/enTktR7n

Observability alone is not enough. Observability helped us understand the problem. And then we knew we needed to solve it. The rise of data observability was a major leap forward. For the first time, teams could see what was going wrong. Just seeing the problem doesn’t fix it, though. It often adds to the noise with more alerts, dashboards, and tools demanding your team’s attention without actually taking anything off their plate. We evolved our platform to go beyond detection into autonomous resolution. That means AI agents go beyond flagging issues to actually fixing them. Enterprises need action beyond observability. Join me this Thursday (August 21st) as I continue this conversation live on our demo day webinar (link in the comments).

📝 Best practices for using dbt and Apache Airflow! In the final video of this YouTube series, Marc Lamberti walks through best practices for orchestrating your dbt models from Airflow using Astronomer Cosmos. https://lnkd.in/gtku-Nuw