Observed Signal · Sep 23, 2026 · Funding · Source: techcrunch · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Bessemer Raises $5.75B for AI Investments
Bessemer Venture Partners announced it has raised $5.75 billion across two new funds to accelerate investments across the AI stack. The firm allocated $1.75 billion for seed and early-stage investments and $4 billion for growth-stage startups. Bessemer, known for backing companies like Anthropic, Cognition, Perplexity, and Shopify, has invested over $3 billion in AI-related startups since 2022, focusing on compute, infrastructure, foundation models, dev tools, app-layer, and agentic tech. Partner Byron Deeter highlighted that AI-native companies are scaling faster than any previous technology category, and that companies staying private longer is a permanent structural shift.
Major VC fundraise focused on AI, signaling sustained investor confidence and capital availability for AI startups, relevant to AdTech/MarTech as AI continues to drive innovation in marketing and advertising.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Bessemer Venture Partners raised $5.75 billion across two new funds.
- $1.75 billion is dedicated to seed and early-stage investing, $4 billion for growth startups.
- Bessemer has invested in over 260 AI-native companies since 2022.
- The firm has invested $3 billion in AI-related startups to date.
- Backed companies include Anthropic, Cognition, Perplexity, and Shopify.
Connected Companies & Entities
11 Entities mapped“The firm, which has backed companies such as Anthropic, Cognition, Legora, Perplexity, Ramp, Shopify, and Waymo....”
“The firm, which has backed companies such as Anthropic, Cognition, Legora, Perplexity, Ramp, Shopify, and Waymo....”
“The firm, which has backed companies such as Anthropic, Cognition, Legora, Perplexity, Ramp, Shopify, and Waymo....”
“The firm, which has backed companies such as Anthropic, Cognition, Legora, Perplexity, Ramp, Shopify, and Waymo....”
“The firm, which has backed companies such as Anthropic, Cognition, Legora, Perplexity, Ramp, Shopify, and Waymo....”
“The firm, which has backed companies such as Anthropic, Cognition, Legora, Perplexity, Ramp, Shopify, and Waymo....”
“Bessemer Venture Partners announced on Wednesday that it has raised $5.75 billion across two new funds....”
“The firm, which has backed companies such as Anthropic, Cognition, Legora, Perplexity, Ramp, Shopify, and Waymo....”
“Bessemer has been well-known as a leading VC in the SaaS era, with a particular knack for picking enterprise winners, like Box, Docusign, an...”
“Bessemer has been well-known as a leading VC in the SaaS era, with a particular knack for picking enterprise winners, like Box, Docusign, an...”
“Bessemer has been well-known as a leading VC in the SaaS era, with a particular knack for picking enterprise winners, like Box, Docusign, an...”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Bessemer: Legacy SaaS Is Dead; AI‑Native Apps Will Thrive
Bessemer Venture Partners’ Byron Deeter argues that while investors speculate legacy SaaS incumbents may be disrupted by generative AI, the application layer is unlikely to disappear. Bessemer has a dual strategy: backing foundation-model players (it participated in Anthropic’s Series D) while prioritizing AI-native, verticalized application companies that embed models into industry workflows. Deeter frames foundation models as a new platform layer analogous to cloud hyperscalers, with opportunity in specialized apps above them (examples: EvenUp for injury law, Abridge for clinical notes). He cites a projected ~$5 trillion data‑center buildout and uses a layered-margin multiplier to estimate a much larger software market opportunity. Bessemer’s view is that many application-layer winners will emerge rather than consolidation around a few model vendors.
BAG Ventures closes $11.3M fund for enterprise AI startups
BAG Ventures, founded by former Google vice president Bonita Stewart and former CapitalG partner Jackson Georges Jr., has closed an $11.3 million fund to back early-stage AI startups. The firm has already invested in 10 companies, including software company SXD, AI travel agent BizTrip, and agentic reasoning platform Nomadic. BAG Ventures focuses on AI infrastructure, compute, physical and edge AI, security, governance, and vertical SaaS, with check sizes ranging from $100,000 to $500,000. The fund aims to invest the remaining capital over the next two years. Georges highlights a shift in enterprise AI buying from experimentation to deterministic solutions that integrate into legacy workflows and execute work. The firm prioritizes startups with proprietary data, deep enterprise integration, and clear monetization paths within 24 months, particularly those addressing AI agent security, governance, and identity management.
Sequoia Raises $7B Fund to Boost AI Investments
Sequoia Capital has raised approximately $7 billion for a new expansion fund focused on late-stage investments in the U.S. and Europe, according to Bloomberg. The vehicle is nearly double the size of Sequoia’s comparable 2022 fund ($3.4 billion) and is intended to back companies across the AI stack — from foundational model builders to startups applying AI. Sequoia previously backed OpenAI and more recently Anthropic; both firms have been reported as considering public listings in 2026. The raise is the first major capital raise under Sequoia’s new co-stewards, Alfred Lin and Pat Grady. Sequoia declined TechCrunch’s request for comment.
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