Emergence Capital vs Insight Partners

Verda Raises $189M to Expand AI Cloud and Compute Capacity

European AI cloud company Verda, formerly DataCrunch, has raised $189 million (€164.8 million) in Series B funding, propelling it to unicorn status with a valuation over $1 billion. The oversubscribed round was led by Emergence Capital, with participation from MUFG Innovation Partners, Supermicro, Varma, Lifeline Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital, byFounders, Tesi, and angel investors including Ola Tørudbakken and Mark Saroufim. This brings Verda's total funding to over $450 million (€392.3 million). The company plans to scale its full-stack AI cloud, accelerate product development, multiply compute capacity, and expand internationally, including deploying Nvidia's upcoming VR200 NVL72 generation. Verda's renewable-powered data centres in Finland support its operations across Europe, the US, and Asia. The company reported an annualized revenue run rate of $165 million (€143.85 million) in July 2026, serving customers in over 50 countries.

• Verda raised $189 million (€164.8 million) in Series B funding led by Emergence Capital.
• The funding values Verda at over $1 billion, making it Europe's latest unicorn, with total funding exceeding $450 million (€392.3 million).
• Investors include MUFG Innovation Partners, Supermicro, Varma, Lifeline Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital, byFounders, Tesi, and angel investors.

Emergence Capital Publishes New Thought Leadership on AI Workforce and Open-Weight AI

Emergence Capital's thoughts page now features two new articles: 'Building the AI Workforce for Construction Finance' (September 17, 2026) and 'Our Open-Weight Bet on American AI Leadership' (September 16, 2026). The latter discusses the firm's investment in Arcee, an open-weight AI company, and its stance on American AI competitiveness.

AI-Native Services (AINS) as the Next SaaS

Investor Jake Saper and Emergence Capital are promoting the idea of AI-Native Services (AINS): startups that pair human professionals (lawyers, accountants, insurance brokers) with AI-focused engineers to sell the underlying services rather than standalone software. AINS firms aim to boost practitioner productivity with AI and price by outcome (e.g., per completed contract) instead of billable hours. The concept was presented at a small summit held at AI-native law firm Crosby in New York City; Saper shared a private deck outlining a playbook for founders building these businesses.

• Jake Saper (Emergence Capital) is promoting the concept of AI-Native Services (AINS).
• AINS combines human professionals (accounting, insurance, legal) with AI-focused software engineers.
• AINS business models often charge for outcomes/results rather than billable hours.

Snorkel AI raises $350M Series E, triples valuation to $3.5B

Snorkel AI, a startup providing AI training data and simulated environments, has raised a $350 million Series E round at a $3.5 billion valuation, nearly tripling its previous $1.3 billion valuation from 17 months ago. The round was led by Insight Partners and S32, with participation from existing investors Addition, Lightspeed, Greylock, GV, and Wells Fargo. Snorkel has shifted from data-labeling software to offering complete datasets and reinforcement learning environments. The company reports an annualized revenue run rate of $375 million, an eighteenfold increase over the past year, driven by high demand from AI labs. The funding will support scaling its data-as-a-service offering.

• Snorkel AI raised $350 million in a Series E round.
• The Series E was led by Insight Partners and S32.
• Snorkel AI's valuation is now $3.5 billion, up from $1.3 billion.

AI Agents as Startup Teammates: Disrupt Session Preview

This article previews an upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 session titled 'Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder,' featuring Josh Reeves (Gusto), Michelle Johnson (Insight Partners), and John Koelliker (Leland). The session explores how early-stage startups are integrating AI agents into their teams, taking on engineering, support, and operational tasks. The discussion focuses on the decision-making process for founders: what work to delegate to AI versus what should remain with humans, emphasizing judgment, accountability, and culture. The article highlights insights from each speaker, drawing on Gusto's data from 500,000+ companies, Insight Partners' scaling expertise, and Leland's talent platform perspective. It presents AI agents as a new option for startup resourcing, prompting a fundamental rethink of team design and the role of early employees in an AI-native world.

• TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will host a session called 'Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder' featuring Gusto, Insight Partners, and Leland.
• Josh Reeves is CEO of Gusto, which supports 500,000+ companies.
• Michelle Johnson is SVP at Insight Partners and previously helped scale Flock Safety to $90M ARR.

Insight Partners' Deven Parekh on Diversification Amid AI Concentration

In an interview at TechCrunch's StrictlyVC event, Insight Partners' co-leader Deven Parekh discussed the firm's diversified investment strategy, contrasting with rivals' heavy concentration in frontier AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic. Parekh highlighted Insight's $90 billion in assets under management, its approach to early-stage investing, and its recent returns of over $20 billion to LPs. He noted that the firm holds stakes in both OpenAI and Anthropic, seeing them as complementary plays. Parekh also commented on the competitive landscape, losing the Legora deal to General Catalyst, and expressed caution on physical AI. He discussed the upcoming IPOs of Anthropic and OpenAI, the concentration risk in venture funding, and the importance of liquidity. The interview covered Insight's portfolio reviews, its investment in Armis, and its philosophy of letting performance speak rather than being loud on social media.

• Insight Partners manages $90 billion in assets under management.
• Insight Partners has returned over $20 billion to LPs over the past two years.
• Insight Partners owns stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic, viewing them as consumer and enterprise plays respectively.