Sapphire Ventures Announces $1 Billion Investment in AI-Powered Enterprise Technology

Sapphire Ventures has committed an investment of more than $1 billion to cultivate the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered enterprise technology.

This investment marks a deepening of Sapphire’s dedication to AI technology and building on the success of their past investments in and scaling of AI startups, the company said in a Tuesday (July 11) press release.

“AI represents a profound technology shift, and our $1 billion commitment reflects our conviction in the opportunity,” said Nino Marakovic, CEO, partner and co-founder of Sapphire Ventures. “We believe companies are only beginning to see the benefits of AI and GenAI, specifically. Soon, we expect there to be a massive, AI-driven productivity boom that will benefit workers at every level and create value throughout the global economy.”

Sapphire’s AI investment strategy focuses on backing B2B software companies that are making AI easily available by leveraging data to better predict outcomes, according to the press release. This approach of investing heavily in AI and machine learning (ML) companies that are improving critical business functions for specific verticals, is helping to realize AI’s potential to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

Beyond the investments, Sapphire Ventures is building out an AI Community and hosting regular forums, workshops, and roundtables on the topic of AI and GenAI, as part of its initiative Sapphire Communities, the release said.

“This next AI wave will replace task-specific models that have dominated the AI landscape to-date,” Jai Das, president, partner and co-founder of Sapphire Ventures, said in the release. “We look forward to partnering with companies that are not only improving existing workflows and software but are building AI-native solutions that reinvent applications and user experiences.”

PYMNTS research has found that generative AI has the potential to enhance human productivity, but there are concerns that need to be addressed for wider adoption.

A Google survey found that 40% of executives believe that adopting generative AI is urgent, but many of them are unsure if their companies are ready for it, as reported in “Understanding the Future of Generative AI,” the July edition of the “Generative AI Tracker,” a PYMNTS and AI-ID collaboration.

The report also found that ethical and reputational risks, such as privacy concerns and disinformation, must also be considered when deploying generative AI.