Mary D’Onofrio, who led Bessemer Enterprise Companions’ investments in unicorns together with Anthropic and Canva, has left to hitch Crosslink Capital, Fortune has completely realized.
D’Onofrio will lead Crosslink’s crossover fund, specializing in Collection B-plus investments in AI vertical software program and infrastructure.
“The world is altering so quickly due to AI,” stated D’Onofrio when reached by Fortune. “I believe there’s an fascinating alternative to have a enjoyable technique that takes benefit of the dislocation that AI is creating…to put money into each new AI-native corporations, and even to increase the runway for current corporations which may must rethink their structure or go-to-market within the context of that quickly altering world.”
D’Onofrio spent seven years at Bessemer, changing into a companion in 2021. Her Bessemer portfolio included Anthropic, Canva, Teleport, HashiCorp, Toast, and Wrapbook. At Crosslink she will probably be pursuing “fewer, higher-conviction offers” as AI valuations stay excessive.
In relation to valuations, “it’s nonetheless a bit of little bit of a story of two cities,” stated D’Onofrio. “Some AI corporations are getting valued extremely extremely. However the rationale is that there are huge TAMs [total addressable markets] which are going to be captured. You possibly can argue there are a whole lot of companies that will probably be added to traditionally constrained software program to develop even additional.”
Crosslink—whose previous and current portfolio contains BetterUp, Postmates, and Flume Well being—made information not too long ago amid fintech startup Chime’s profitable IPO. The agency led Chime’s Collection A in 2014 and was amongst Chime’s largest shareholders (with a couple of 9.5% stake) as the corporate went public this month. D’Onofrio declined to touch upon Chime.
Crosslink, D’Onofrio stated, has a three-pronged technique of early-stage enterprise, progress, and public investing.
“It permits us to be fairly dexterous when it comes to the businesses Crosslink serves. So, for our speedy success tales, it might pull on completely different swimming pools of capital and proceed to speculate. And for people who take extra time—or which may see success and wish just a few years of discovering their means—the agency might be actually affected person companions; they will make investments actually throughout the life cycle.”
