# Sapphire Ventures

Sapphire Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 1996 as SAP's VC arm, spun out in 2011, and rebranded in 2014. It invests in technology companies from Series B to IPO, with offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Austin, and London.

Sapphire Ventures (stylized as SAPPHIRE) is a venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Austin, and London. The firm is considered one of the world's premier venture capital firms, primarily investing in Series B through IPO technology companies, as well as tech-focused early-stage venture firms and seed/Series A early-stage sports, media, and entertainment startups.

Founded in 1996 as the venture capital arm of multinational software conglomerate SAP, Sapphire spun out as an independent company in 2011 and rebranded to Sapphire Ventures in 2014. At that time, it managed $1.4 billion and had invested in over 125 companies, with 10 going public and 17 acquired.

## History

In 2012, Sapphire launched Sapphire Partners, a fund-of-funds strategy making investments in early-stage venture capital funds across North America, Europe, and Israel, including direct co-investments alongside those funds' general partners.

In 2015, Sapphire partnered with Cisco Systems and Siemens to co-host the first industry summit on the Internet of Things, named "IoT: Empowering The Enterprise" in San Jose, California. Sapphire had been an investor in Control4, an IoT company that completed its IPO in 2013.

In 2019, the firm launched Sapphire Sport, a fund dedicated to backing companies at the intersection of sports, media, and entertainment. Backers included Manchester City's City Football Group (CFG) alongside owners, investors, and family offices from the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS. Later that year, Sapphire re-launched #OpenLP, a community for entrepreneurs, VCs, and limited partners. Also in 2019, Sapphire raised $1.4 billion across strategies, including a $150 million opportunity fund.

In 2021, Sapphire raised $1.7 billion in February and an additional $2 billion in November, pushing assets under management past $8.8 billion. This capital allowed expansion of its Portfolio Growth capabilities. That year, the firm expanded in Europe, appointing Annalise Dragic as partner, making her one of the youngest female VC partners in Europe.

In 2022, Sapphire joined the board of the National Venture Capital Association, with partner Beezer Clarkson serving from 2022 through 2026. The firm also became the official sponsor of PitchBook's podcast. In early 2023, Sapphire announced a new $181 million fund for Sapphire Sport.

## Investment Strategies

Sapphire operates three primary strategies: Sapphire Ventures, Sapphire Partners, and Sapphire Sport, spanning early through growth stages and direct and fund-of-fund investments.

### Sapphire Ventures

Sapphire Ventures invests in high-growth, expansion-stage technology companies, focusing on artificial intelligence and machine learning, B2B SaaS, web3, cyber security, data and analytics, devops, fintech, health tech, and vertical SaaS. The firm's AI focus aligns with the broader [generative-ai](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/generative-ai) boom, backing companies that leverage [large-language-model](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/large-language-model) technologies for enterprise applications.

### Sapphire Partners

Sapphire Partners acts as a limited partner backing early-stage tech venture funds, from seed funds as small as $40 million to Series A investors with over $100 million. The strategy has invested in funds including Union Square Ventures, Amplify Partners, SaaStr, Point Nine Capital, Data Collective, and Screendoor. Originally a $405 million fund of funds, it was later modified to recycle distributions. Sapphire also supports the #OpenLP online community for venture education.

### Sapphire Sport

Sapphire Sport invests in early-stage technology companies at the intersection of sport, media, and entertainment. Launched with a $115 million vehicle in early 2019, it added a $181 million fund in 2023. Backers include City Football Group, Adidas, AEG, SAP, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Madison Square Garden. Early investments include Aglet, Breathwrk, Buzzer, Fevo, Flowhaven, Green Park, Jackpot.com, Manicore, Mixhalo, Overtime, PlayVS, POAP, Tonal, and Trust. Exits include MyCujoo and Phoenix Labs.

## Portfolio Growth

Sapphire's Portfolio Growth division supports portfolio companies and venture funds with customer, partner, and executive talent introductions. Expanded after the 2021 capital raise, the division uses a "centers of excellence" strategy offering founders support with sales and go-to-market strategies, international expansion, insights into enterprise decision-making, and capital market oversight. The division makes hundreds of introductions each year and was recognized during the COVID-19 pandemic for creative guidance and playbooks.

## Investments

Since founding, Sapphire has invested in more than 130 companies across 10 countries, with over 70 exits including 30 IPOs and 45 acquisitions, making it one of the most active venture firms based on public exits.

Notable portfolio companies with IPOs or acquisitions include: 23andMe (merged with SPAC), Alteryx (IPO), Apigee (IPO, acquired by Google), Auth0 (acquired by Okta), AvidXchange (IPO), Block/Square (IPO), Braze (IPO), Box (IPO), Cazoo (merged with SPAC), Control4 (IPO), DocuSign (IPO), ExactTarget (IPO, acquired by Salesforce), Fitbit (IPO, acquired by Google), Five9 (IPO), Integral Ad Science (IPO), JFrog (IPO), Kaltura (IPO), LinkedIn (IPO, acquired by Microsoft), Livongo (IPO, merged with Teladoc), Looker (acquired by Google), MuleSoft (IPO, acquired by Salesforce), Monday.com (IPO), Paytm (IPO), Ping Identity (IPO, acquired by Thoma Bravo), Sumo Logic (IPO), and Wise/TransferWise (IPO).

Current investments include 6Sense, BetterUp, BlockDaemon, Brightfield, Catchpoint, Current, and Clari. Sapphire's focus on [artificial-intelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/artificial-intelligence) and [machine-learning](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/machine-learning) positions it to capitalize on the growing adoption of [deep-learning](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/deep-learning) and [neural-network](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/neural-network) technologies in enterprise software, a trend accelerated by advances from labs like [openai](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai) and [google-deepmind](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/google-deepmind). The firm's investments in AI-driven startups reflect its commitment to backing transformative technologies, from [generative-ai](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/generative-ai) applications to cloud-computing infrastructure.

---
Source: https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/sapphire-ventures
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
Last updated: 2026-09-05T13:24:13.933975+00:00