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 -
Ally was a business and goal management software platform with roots in the OKR (objectives and key results) goal alignment framework that is transforming businesses and employees’ work lives.Initial Investment2021Ally was a business and goal management software platform with roots in the OKR (objectives and key results) goal alignment framework that is transforming businesses and employees’ work lives.FounderVetri VelloreInvestment JourneyAcquired by Microsoft 2021Initial Investment2021
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AnsweriQ applied AI to the challenge of customer support ticket routing and helps human customer support agents answer questions faster.Initial Investment2017AnsweriQ applied AI to the challenge of customer support ticket routing and helps human customer support agents answer questions faster.FoundersPrashant Luthra
Pradeep RathinamInvestment JourneyAcquired by Freshworks 2020Initial Investment2017 -
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 -
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 -
Lattice turned dark data such as text and images into actionable, analyzable structured data with human-caliber quality and at machine scale.Initial Investment2015Lattice turned dark data such as text and images into actionable, analyzable structured data with human-caliber quality and at machine scale.FoundersChristopher Ré
Feng Niu
Michael Cafarella
Raphael HoffmannInvestment JourneyAcquired by Apple 2017Initial Investment2015 -
Lexion is a SaaS application of AI and NLP applied to managing the information buried in corporate contracts.Initial Investment2019
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Placed is the leader in location-driven insights and ad intelligence. Measuring billions of locations across the world’s largest opt-in mobile location panel. Placed provides the most comprehensive understanding of consumers’ offline behaviors.Initial Investment2011Placed is the leader in location-driven insights and ad intelligence. Measuring billions of locations across the world’s largest opt-in mobile location panel. Placed provides the most comprehensive understanding of consumers’ offline behaviors.FounderDavid ShimInvestment JourneyAcquired by Snap 2017Initial Investment2011
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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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Smartsheet is a leading work management platform designed to empower teams of any size to create custom processes, programs and portfolios that fit the way they work.Initial Investment2007Smartsheet is a leading work management platform designed to empower teams of any size to create custom processes, programs and portfolios that fit the way they work.CEOMark MaderInvestment JourneyPublic April 2018
NYSE: SMARInitial Investment2007 -
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 -
Turi was an AI and Machine Learning platform.Initial Investment2013Turi was an AI and Machine Learning platform.FoundersCarlos Guestrin
Yucheng Low
Danny BicksonInvestment JourneyAcquired by Apple 2016Initial Investment2013 -
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