Lightspeed

Announcing the 2025 Cyber 60 and our second annual CISO survey! https://lnkd.in/exXEt_r4 At Lightspeed, our team has been investing in enterprise founders for 25 years, and cybersecurity remains one of the core pillars of our global enterprise practice. For the second year, we are spotlighting leading companies in this sector and releasing our second annual CISO survey. Together with Fortune, we have compiled a list of the top 60 venture-backed cybersecurity startups. Congratulations! We’re also releasing our CISO survey. We surveyed 200 CISOs and the results show that, more than ever, this is cybersecurity’s moment. There is a growing demand for cybersecurity solutions and AI is heavily impacting the decision making from CISOs. Read more about the Cyber 60 companies and check out the survey results here: https://lnkd.in/exXEt_r4  #Cyber60 #cybersecurity

🚨 Our last Financing Spotlight of 2024 is here! Congratulations to these Lightspeed-backed companies on their recent funding: → Anatomy Financial, an AI-powered platform that simplifies and automates financial workflows in healthcare. Cc: Co-Founders Sasha King and Callum King → Cartesia, building the next generation of AI with real-time multimodal intelligence. Cc: Co-Founders Karan Goel, Albert Gu, Arjun Desai, Brandon Yang, and Chris Ré → Databricks, an AI-driven platform that streamlines and democratizes data and AI, empowering teams to tackle their most challenging problems. Cc: Co-Founders Ali Ghodsi, Ion Stoica, Matei Zaharia, Patrick Wendell, Reynold Xin, Andy Konwinski, and Arsalan Tavakoli. → Eon.io, a next-generation cloud backup solution that introduces the first backup autopilot for cloud infrastructure. Cc: Co-Founders Ofir Ehrlich, Gonen Stein, Ron Kimchi → Fiddler AI, enables responsible AI with a unified platform for monitoring, analytics, and explainable AI. Cc: Co-Founders Krishna Gade and amit paka ☕️ → Orqa FPV is building secure, high-performance drone systems that empower professionals in defense and enterprise markets to tackle their toughest challenges. Cc: Co-Founders Srdjan Kovacevic Ivan Jelušić, and Vlatko Matijevic

As AI continues to advance, there’s concern that it may lead to short-term successes at the expense of long-term innovation. Dr. Olga Russakovsky, a computer science professor at Princeton University and Co-Founder and Board Chair of AI4ALL, shares her take on this in the latest episode of the Generative Now Podcast with Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano. She explains how AI can speed up research by focusing on the most data-supported conclusions, but this approach risks steering scientists away from more creative or unconventional paths that could lead to real breakthroughs. Check out the full episode to hear more about how AI is shaping scientific research, its potential limitations, and why maintaining creativity is key to driving long-term innovation. Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4iHQP3P  Apple: https://apple.co/3VJXpNm  YouTube: https://bit.ly/3VJnnkb

Despite massive fines and stricter regulations, many financial institutions still rely on outdated Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) software and inefficient manual processes. Regulatory fines hit $6.6B in 2023, and yet 28% of organizations still use paper-based methods to track compliance data. While there are many compliance software solutions available, most are reactive, expensive, and complex—often failing to meet the needs of modern compliance teams. AI is changing how financial institutions approach compliance by making it more proactive, efficient, and adaptable. Our AI Compliance Market Map highlights where AI-driven innovation is already making a significant impact. Read more in our latest blog: https://lnkd.in/eW8DehbW Cc: Sam Eisler, Justin Overdorff, Aaron Frank

Last week at the Fortune #BrainstormAI Term Sheet Breakfast, our Partner Raviraj Jain joined leading AI investors and Allie Garfinkle, Senior Finance Reporter for Fortune, for a discussion on the current state of AI technology. Here’s a quick recap:  https://lnkd.in/geeBmASh

Congratulations to Lightspeed-backed Databricks on raising $10B on their Series J. Databricks is building transformative data and AI infrastructure to further service its customers in building their data intelligence. Read more about CEO Ali Ghodsi and Databricks’ journey and this new round of funding via The Wall Street Journal: https://lnkd.in/d2WtFR3V

This week at Axios AI+ SF, our Partner and Co-Founder, Ravi Mhatre sat down with Axios Publisher Nicholas Johnston to discuss the key factors shaping AI investments, where investors focus their attention and funding, and what’s ahead for 2025. Later, Arvind Jain, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightspeed-backed Glean joined Axios Business Editor Dan Primack for a one-on-one conversation. Here are the highlights: → The story of AI is all about speed and scale—this transformation is happening so fast that we’ll measure it in months, not decades. → Businesses not integrating AI are already behind. Although headlines spark fears of AI taking over jobs, the real focus should be on how AI implementation can free us to focus on higher-value tasks. → We’re always on the lookout for the next big platform, but they don’t come around that often. Foundation models might just be the powerful platform that powers growth for the next decade. → AI’s impact is moving from behind the scenes to the forefront—2025 will be the year we see its value in real-world, consumer-facing applications. Photo credit: Chris Constantine

Join us for a 3-day event in Davos where we have partnered with Axios to create The Lighthouse, a new space on the promenade. We’re bringing together industry leaders to discuss AI’s global impact and its potential to transform industries and workforces. Get the full details here: https://lnkd.in/dQApNhU7  #wef2025

Over the past 40 years, the tech industry has seen a lot of changes in how products are delivered. From the early SaaS revolution in the 2000s to the rise of AI today, each phase has made us faster and more efficient. Here’s how the evolution of technology breaks down: Phase One: IT Services →  Packaged Software Phase Two: Software → SaaS Phase Three: SaaS → AI (SaaS+Services 2.0) As we enter this new ‘Hypersonic Innovation Cycle,’ businesses face a critical challenge: not just keeping up with the rapid pace, but figuring out how to lead in an era where decades of progress are happening in just a few years. Read more in our latest blog: https://lnkd.in/eBripeAY Cc: Adrian Nicholas Radu

Making complex technology feel simple is no small feat, but Marissa Mayer has built her career doing just that. As one of the first 20 employees at Google, she played a key role in developing products like Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Search—tools that billions use daily. Now, as Co-Founder and CEO of Sunshine, she and her team are using AI to transform everyday tasks like scheduling and managing contacts into seamless, intuitive experiences. This week, Marissa joins our Partner Michael Mignano on the latest episode of the Generative Now Podcast to discuss her early work with AI and her vision for its future. Watch the full episode: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3D65G7N Apple: https://apple.co/3OQ1qft  YouTube: https://bit.ly/41vFkXa