#PowerToTheMakers — CRV Promotes Brittany Walker to General Partner, Two Successful $100 Million ARR Businesses and Media Milestones
By Team CRV
A lot has changed since our last update and yet many critical components have remained the same. We don’t just invest in businesses. We never lose sight of the fact that backing the right people is a big part of our five plus decades in early stage tech.
We’ve always been proud of the team we built and today we’re delighted to welcome Brittany Walker to our esteemed group of general partners.
Brittany’s tenacity in terms of uncovering potential investment opportunities in the data and AI space is unparalleled. She invests in relationships over the long haul and her teammates really value her ability to network and build new relationships with founders who are breaking new ground.
“Ever since Brittany joined the firm in 2020, I knew she was special. Brittany excels in ramping up quickly in rapidly evolving markets and often gets to those markets before other VCs (a paramount part of the job). Brittany builds strong bonds with founders by offering to roll up her sleeves and using her vast network while also being a hard working and thoughtful partner to early stage founders.” — Anna Khan, General Partner at CRV
As a general partner, Brittany joins Anna Khan, Caitlin Bolnick Rellas (who was promoted last year), James Green, Max Gazor, Murat Bicer, Reid Christian and Saar Gur in leading rounds in the next round of game changing companies.
“Since we partnered with Brittany in our Series A, she’s been a valuable resource and genuine friend. She always calls it how she sees it, making a powerful sparring partner for idea generation and troubleshooting. From providing high-level market insights to giving detailed feedback on our new website, Brittany is always there when we need her! Brittany and Murat make CRV shine and I’m so glad we partnered along Doppler’s journey.” — Brian Vallelunga, Founder and CEO of Doppler (CRV first partnered with Doppler in March 2022, when CRV led Doppler’s Series A and joined Doppler’s board.)
Brittany’s area of expertise will remain the same (AI related to infrastructure, databases and devtools) and we look forward to her continuing to develop relationships with leaders who are building the next generation of successful companies.
Another thing that hasn’t changed is that developer tools, security and vertical SaaS continue to be a deeply embedded part of our core areas of focus which is why it’s exciting for us to welcome new sister companies, like:
…to the CRV fold. Our commitment to investing in the very best entrepreneurs and working diligently alongside them to help them build lasting businesses also hasn’t budged an inch. We invest early on in ambitious projects and stay beside our founders for the long haul. That’s why it’s rewarding for us to cheer on not one, but two CRV companies that just recently crossed $100 million ARR.
Both Cribl and Kong are scaling their companies into an elite echelon of durable businesses that include the likes of Wiz, HashiCorp, Snowflake and Datadog. Since leading Seed and Series A rounds are our bread and butter, it’ll come as no surprise that we banded together with these two companies early on. We partnered with Clint and the Cribl founding team when the company was just a year old. In Kong’s case, we joined forces with Marco and Aghi when the company was only two years old. We know how much hard work all three of these leaders plow into their startups on a daily basis and are honored to say we backed both of these fledgling companies back when success wasn’t a given. We couldn’t be more satisfied to see the results Cribl and Kong are achieving.
The past few months our investors have not only been writing about the shifting AI landscape, they’re also being tapped as expert sources by media outlets. In November our general partner James Green was on Bloomberg discussing early stage AI investing and he also spoke with MarketWatch about AI legislation in January. A couple of weeks ago our general partner Max Gazor also dropped by Bloomberg’s studios in the Ferry Building to talk about how the IPO market is shaping up. Our annual Beaujolais Bash for Journalists and Founders is just one of the ways we like to keep the lines of communication open and ideas flowing with smart journalists. We’re grateful for the strong ties our companies and our investors have developed with members of the media over the years and, like many others, we were saddened to hear that so many respected journalists were let go by media outlets these past few weeks.
It’s early in the year, but it feels as though change and evolution are set to be key themes for the new year. In addition to Brittany moving into her new role as a general partner here at CRV, we also had a number of new additions recently join us: Wells Poler (investor relations), Michael Marini, CFA (finance) and Katie Skara (executive assistant). Rounding out our talented team gives us even more conviction that we’re ready to take on 2024. Our team is always game for meeting top tech talent. Whether you’ve got a budding business idea in mind or have a startup that’s ready for take off, feel free to learn a bit more about Team CRV …and don’t be shy about reaching out and congratulating CRV’s newest general partner!
