AI & Intelligent Apps
Why we invest
Artificial intelligence has captured the imagination of consumers and businesses alike as they reimagine how life and work will change. While Madrona has been investing in AI since 2012, the recent acceleration has highlighted opportunities in the combination of unstructured data, natural user interactions, and generative capabilities. Our experience in applied AI from a technology and business model perspective has built a comprehensive understanding of AI’s strengths and vulnerabilities and an understanding of the expertise needed to navigate a rapidly evolving landscape. Madrona believes the next generation of tech leaders will emerge from key areas, including application orchestration, intelligent applications, AI infrastructure, and AI agents at the edge.
OctoAI’s
Luis Ceze
on bringing ML to all platforms
Common Room’s
Linda Lian
on integrating community into your company
Runway’s
Cristóbal Valenzuela
on AI-driven art and lifelong learning
Deepgram’s
Scott Stephenson
on revolutionizing voice AI and building a developer tool
Highspot’s
Robert Wahbe
on customers, AI, and building relationships that last
Unstructured’s
Brian Raymond
on tackling engineering bottlenecks AI & Intelligent Apps
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Algorithmia’s AI Layer managed the machine learning lifecycle and automates the deployment of machine learning models at scale.Initial Investment2014Algorithmia’s AI Layer managed the machine learning lifecycle and automates the deployment of machine learning models at scale.FoundersKenny Daniel
Diego OppenheimerInvestment JourneyAcquired by Datarobot 2021Initial Investment2014 -
Chatitive provided intelligent messaging experiences for businesses. The company was incubated with Madrona Venture Labs.Initial Investment2016Chatitive provided intelligent messaging experiences for businesses. The company was incubated with Madrona Venture Labs.FoundersAndy Hollenbeck
Daniel PironeInvestment JourneyAcquired by Mailchimp 2021Initial Investment2016 -
Common Room is the intelligent community growth platform that helps organizations deepen relationships, build better products, and drive business impact. Common Room brings together community engagement, product usage, and customer data into a single place, and uses intelligence to surface actionable insights so teams can discover what’s most important, nurture advocates, collaborate more effectively, and measure outcomes. Today’s fastest growing companies trust Common Room to power their community growth, including Asana, Chainlink, Confluent, Figma, Grafana Labs, HubSpot, Notion, Webflow and more. The company is backed by Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, and Madrona Venture Group and is headquartered in Seattle.Initial Investment2020Common Room is the intelligent community growth platform that helps organizations deepen relationships, build better products, and drive business impact. Common Room brings together community engagement, product usage, and customer data into a single place, and uses intelligence to surface actionable insights so teams can discover what’s most important, nurture advocates, collaborate more effectively, and measure outcomes. Today’s fastest growing companies trust Common Room to power their community growth, including Asana, Chainlink, Confluent, Figma, Grafana Labs, HubSpot, Notion, Webflow and more. The company is backed by Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, and Madrona Venture Group and is headquartered in Seattle.
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EdgeRunner AI is on a mission to build generative AI for the edge that is safe, secure, and transparent. EdgeRunner AI develops small, task-specific ultra-efficient language models (UELMs) that operate without needing internet access, improving data privacy, security, and compliance. By providing generative AI solutions that run locally on any device or hardware, EdgeRunner AI enables enterprises and organizations to leverage AI technology responsibly, without compromising performance or security.Initial Investment2024EdgeRunner AI is on a mission to build generative AI for the edge that is safe, secure, and transparent. EdgeRunner AI develops small, task-specific ultra-efficient language models (UELMs) that operate without needing internet access, improving data privacy, security, and compliance. By providing generative AI solutions that run locally on any device or hardware, EdgeRunner AI enables enterprises and organizations to leverage AI technology responsibly, without compromising performance or security.FoundersTyler Xuan Saltsman
Colton MalkersonInitial Investment2024 -
Finpilot is an AI copilot for finance to speed up investment research. Financial analysts can use it to scour financial data, analyze companies, write reports, and visualize data — all from verifiable sources.Initial Investment2024Finpilot is an AI copilot for finance to speed up investment research. Financial analysts can use it to scour financial data, analyze companies, write reports, and visualize data — all from verifiable sources.
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Fixie is a platform that makes it easy to build applications that integrate LLMs in any software system — databases, APIs, websites, documents, and more — to enable entirely new products and experiences.Initial Investment2023Fixie is a platform that makes it easy to build applications that integrate LLMs in any software system — databases, APIs, websites, documents, and more — to enable entirely new products and experiences.
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Gradial is a generative AI and workflow solution for marketing and sales teams. Its platform combines the latest image and text generation models with customers' existing design systems so creative teams can build websites, campaigns, and experiences as fast as they can describe them.Initial Investment2023Gradial is a generative AI and workflow solution for marketing and sales teams. Its platform combines the latest image and text generation models with customers' existing design systems so creative teams can build websites, campaigns, and experiences as fast as they can describe them.
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Kitt.ai’s was an early spin out from the Allen Institute of Artificial Intelligence focused on conversational intelligence.Initial Investment2016Kitt.ai’s was an early spin out from the Allen Institute of Artificial Intelligence focused on conversational intelligence.FoundersXuchen Yao
Kenji Sagae
Guoguo ChenInvestment JourneyAcquired by Baidu 2017Initial Investment2016 -
Lexion is a SaaS application of AI and NLP applied to managing the information buried in corporate contracts.Initial Investment2019
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Magnify is an intelligent application focused on post-sales engagement with customers – providing a platform to consolidate customer interaction data, draw insight, and create cross-functional workflows to improve customer retention, expansion and adoption. Magnify was incubated with Madrona Venture Labs.Initial Investment2021Magnify is an intelligent application focused on post-sales engagement with customers – providing a platform to consolidate customer interaction data, draw insight, and create cross-functional workflows to improve customer retention, expansion and adoption. Magnify was incubated with Madrona Venture Labs.
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OctoAI's mission is to build easy and efficient AI systems that enable customers to turn AI models into production applications people value.Initial Investment2019
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Otherside AI is building artificial intelligence-powered productivity and communication tools that increase the speed of communication.Initial Investment2020Otherside AI is building artificial intelligence-powered productivity and communication tools that increase the speed of communication.
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An AI Agent for business travelers.Initial Investment2024An AI Agent for business travelers.
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Outbound AI is Conversation AI built for healthcare. Founded in 2021, the Seattle-based startup is breaking new ground with cloud technologies that serve as workforce multipliers to drive productivity while improving the daily job experience for human talent. The company’s inaugural offering includes a portfolio of AI-powered virtual agents specially trained to streamline administrative work across the revenue cycle, including claims status, eligibility and benefits verification, prior authorization, and more. Outbound AI is led by a passionate team of health and voice tech veterans and backed by several preeminent venture capital firms.Initial Investment2021Outbound AI is Conversation AI built for healthcare. Founded in 2021, the Seattle-based startup is breaking new ground with cloud technologies that serve as workforce multipliers to drive productivity while improving the daily job experience for human talent. The company’s inaugural offering includes a portfolio of AI-powered virtual agents specially trained to streamline administrative work across the revenue cycle, including claims status, eligibility and benefits verification, prior authorization, and more. Outbound AI is led by a passionate team of health and voice tech veterans and backed by several preeminent venture capital firms.
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Pendulum is an AI/ML-powered platform for companies and government organizations to detect and understand harmful narratives on social media platforms and elsewhere.Initial Investment2021Pendulum is an AI/ML-powered platform for companies and government organizations to detect and understand harmful narratives on social media platforms and elsewhere.
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Plus is a data platform that provides the easiest way to capture, see, and share current data from any source without APIs or complex integrations.Initial Investment2021Plus is a data platform that provides the easiest way to capture, see, and share current data from any source without APIs or complex integrations.
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Pulse Labs is a platform that helps brands design voice apps that real people can understand.Initial Investment2018Pulse Labs is a platform that helps brands design voice apps that real people can understand.
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Read enables better meetings through measurement with a team of products that make up the Chief Meeting Officer Suite. The team of products that make up the Chief Meeting Officer Suite includes Read Meeting Manager, Executive Assistant, and Meeting Navigator, which are designed to deliver insights in and across meetings. Read's mission is to make every human interaction meaningfully better, smarter, and happier starting with the more than 500 million people worldwide using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Webex every day.Initial Investment2021Read enables better meetings through measurement with a team of products that make up the Chief Meeting Officer Suite. The team of products that make up the Chief Meeting Officer Suite includes Read Meeting Manager, Executive Assistant, and Meeting Navigator, which are designed to deliver insights in and across meetings. Read's mission is to make every human interaction meaningfully better, smarter, and happier starting with the more than 500 million people worldwide using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Webex every day.
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An AI powered operating system that understands, streamlines and orchestrates your organization’s rhythms.Initial Investment2023An AI powered operating system that understands, streamlines and orchestrates your organization’s rhythms.
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Saykara provides an AI-powered, voice activated virtual scribe for physicians.Initial Investment2017Saykara provides an AI-powered, voice activated virtual scribe for physicians.FounderHarjinder SanduInvestment JourneyAcquired by Nuance 2021Initial Investment2017
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Strike Graph simplifies security certifications, such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, and more, so companies can focus on driving their business forward. Our innovative, easy-to-use platform adapts to your company’s specific needs and then integrates with common business systems and infrastructure to automatically collect evidence for auditor review. Strike Graph empowers companies to create trust, pass audits, and close enterprise deals at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods. Helps companies prepare for, complete and maintain their security certifications such as SOC 2, FedRAMP and ISO, via an intelligent application.Initial Investment2020Strike Graph simplifies security certifications, such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, and more, so companies can focus on driving their business forward. Our innovative, easy-to-use platform adapts to your company’s specific needs and then integrates with common business systems and infrastructure to automatically collect evidence for auditor review. Strike Graph empowers companies to create trust, pass audits, and close enterprise deals at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods. Helps companies prepare for, complete and maintain their security certifications such as SOC 2, FedRAMP and ISO, via an intelligent application.
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Suplari applied AI-automated analytics and insights for procurement and finance teams.Initial Investment2017Suplari applied AI-automated analytics and insights for procurement and finance teams.FoundersNikesh Parekh
Jeff Gerber
Brian WhiteInvestment JourneyAcquired by Microsoft 2021Initial Investment2017 -
Tangibly's platform enables companies to implement best-in-class management of their trade secrets. Trade secrets can be almost anything, from algorithms to chemical processes to client lists and are among the most valuable assets for many companies. Tangibly helps streamline and simplify legal requirements and implement best practices to establish company assets as legally protectable trade secrets. These best practices include cataloging assets, acknowledgment workflow, access management, tracking required legal agreements (NDAs, employment agreements, partnership agreements, etc.), as well as employee/partner education and trainingInitial Investment2022Tangibly's platform enables companies to implement best-in-class management of their trade secrets. Trade secrets can be almost anything, from algorithms to chemical processes to client lists and are among the most valuable assets for many companies. Tangibly helps streamline and simplify legal requirements and implement best practices to establish company assets as legally protectable trade secrets. These best practices include cataloging assets, acknowledgment workflow, access management, tracking required legal agreements (NDAs, employment agreements, partnership agreements, etc.), as well as employee/partner education and training
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Tektonic is developing GenAI Agents for enterprise workflows.Initial Investment2024Tektonic is developing GenAI Agents for enterprise workflows.
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Visual Layer is a visual asset management platform for the era of generative AI. With Visual Layer you can simplify visual data ops, ingest data from any source, gain insights, and automatically find and fix data quality issues.Initial Investment2023Visual Layer is a visual asset management platform for the era of generative AI. With Visual Layer you can simplify visual data ops, ingest data from any source, gain insights, and automatically find and fix data quality issues.
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As teams across industries adopt AI, WhyLabs enables them to operate with certainty by providing model monitoring, preventing costly model failures, and facilitating cross-functional collaboration. Incubated at the Allen Institute for AI, WhyLabs is a privately-held, venture-funded company based in Seattle.Initial Investment2020As teams across industries adopt AI, WhyLabs enables them to operate with certainty by providing model monitoring, preventing costly model failures, and facilitating cross-functional collaboration. Incubated at the Allen Institute for AI, WhyLabs is a privately-held, venture-funded company based in Seattle.FoundersAlessya Visnjic
Sam Gracie
Andy Dang
Maria KaraivanovaInitial Investment2020 -
XetHub brings data and code together so that hybrid and remote teams can collaborate seamlessly in a git-enabled environment at scale and speed. XetHub was acquired by Hugging Face in 2024.Initial Investment2022XetHub brings data and code together so that hybrid and remote teams can collaborate seamlessly in a git-enabled environment at scale and speed. XetHub was acquired by Hugging Face in 2024.
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Xnor.ai pioneered a lightweight AI framework that enabled deep learning, machine vision, and speech recognition to be done directly on resource constrained devices such as phones, embedded systems and Raspberry Pi Zero.Initial Investment2017Xnor.ai pioneered a lightweight AI framework that enabled deep learning, machine vision, and speech recognition to be done directly on resource constrained devices such as phones, embedded systems and Raspberry Pi Zero.FoundersAli Farhadi
Mohammad RastegariInvestment JourneyAcquired by Apple 2020Initial Investment2017 -
Yoodli is developing an AI-powered technology that provides feedback on your communication skills.Initial Investment2021