Sapphire Ventures 2017 Year In Review: Building Category Leaders
Happy New Year to all, and especially to those of you who have been part of our journey at Sapphire Ventures. What a ride it’s been so far. We spun off from SAP to become an independent fund (2011), started a fund investing business (2012), created a dedicated Market Development Team (2013) and launched into new verticals beyond enterprise IT (2017).
2017 was another year to remember as we began deploying our third flagship fund and increased our total assets under management to $2.5B. It was a challenging year overall with surging stock markets, up-and-down IPO markets, and a flood of capital entering the venture capital asset class. Despite this backdrop, Sapphire had another banner year.
And while we have walked the walk, we haven’t talked the talk enough. There is still some confusion about who we are. As Sapphire’s CEO, my goal in 2018 is to make Sapphire’s value proposition known. No more “best VC firm you’ve never heard of!” Through our blogs and investments, we intend to clarify our message in the year ahead. Look out for a post on the key pillars that underlie our mission and unique value proposition in supporting entrepreneurs and investors who build companies of consequence.
We look forward to working with each of you. Without your support, Sapphire wouldn’t exist, and for that, I’m eternally grateful.
Happy New Year to you and yours!
Disclosures:
The information set forth herein is not intended to constitute investment advice and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures. Sapphire Ventures does not solicit or make its services available to the public and none of the funds are currently open to new investors. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
The portfolio companies referred to above do not necessarily represent all of the investments made or recommended by Sapphire Ventures, and were not selected based on the return on Sapphire Ventures’ investment in them. It should not be assumed that the specific investments identified and discussed herein were or will be profitable. Not all investments made by Sapphire Ventures will be profitable or will equal the performance of the companies identified above. View all of Sapphire Ventures’ investments here.
