About Gradient Ventures
Gradient Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2017. It is primarily based out of Mountain View, United States. As of Oct 2026, Gradient Ventures is an active investor, having invested in 203 companies, with 19 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and FinTech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Photon Overall, Gradient Ventures portfolio has seen 4 unicorns and 39 acquisitions including key companies like Oura, WRITER and MainStreet. A lot of funds co-invest with Gradient Ventures, with names like Soma Capital sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Gradient Ventures has team of 7 people including 7 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 3 more
Portfolio Soonicorns
Gradient Ventures' List of Top Investments
Gradient Ventures has a portfolio of 203 companies, including 4 unicorns. Their most notable investments are in Range and Gigs.Their portfolio spans across United States, Germany, Netherlands and 14 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, FinTech and 27 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 3 more. Here is the list of top investments by Gradient Ventures:1. Oura
Developer of a smart ring for sleep, fitness, stress, and health. The ring collects personal health metrics and insights through biometric readings. It focuses on wellness, longevity, activity, fitness, heart health, women's health, and stress management. The device is designed for comfortable, continuous wear to provide data-driven health awareness.
Key facts about Oura
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: Oulu (Finland)
- Annual Revenue: €100M - €500M as on Sep 30, 2024
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series E
- Total Funding till date: $1.32B
- Employee Count: 1,598 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and 71 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series E, Jul 17, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. ELSA Speak
AI-powered English pronunciation app for personalized learning and confident speaking. This platform utilizes artificial intelligence to provide instant feedback on pronunciation, fluency, and intonation. It offers personalized learning paths, real-life role-plays, and bilingual support to enhance English communication skills. The platform caters to individuals and organizations, offering solutions for schools and businesses. It provides accent options, exam preparation, and progress tracking. The platform is a Software as a Service (SaaS) that aims to improve English proficiency and boost confidence in speaking. It is a tech company that leverages speech recognition technology to deliver personalized language learning experiences. The platform offers subscription plans for individuals and organizations.
Key facts about ELSA Speak
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $60M
- Employee Count: 223 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Graph Ventures, Gradient Ventures and 23 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Sep 12, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. WRITER
Developer of an enterprise AI platform for agentic work. The platform enables users to build, activate, and supervise AI agents. It offers tools for IT and business teams to create agents with shared resources. The platform provides features for governing and observing agents at scale, along with integrations and controls.
Key facts about WRITER
- Founded Year: 2012
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $369M
- Employee Count: 682 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Salesforce Ventures, Rincon Venture Partners and 56 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Nov 06, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. Collective
Cloud-based back-office platform for self-employed and businesses. It features solutions for accounting, tax estimates, payroll processing, tax savings, income tax returns, and more. It also offers business management solutions.
Key facts about Collective
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $150M
- Employee Count: 327 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: QED Investors, Signia Venture Partners and 35 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, May 29, 2025, $*****
5. Mojo Vision
Developer of AR-based monochrome display. It is developing an augmented reality-based computing platform that claims to deliver relevant information without the intrusions of mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, or wearables. Its chief offering is a tiny monochrome display, featuring multiple density pixels per square inch. It can be placed close to the eye and the company claims that the same's pixel density is about greater than the standard phone screen and denser than those displays found on other VR headsets
Key facts about Mojo Vision
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Saratoga (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $319M
- Employee Count: 100 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: AME Cloud Ventures, Liberty Global and 48 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Mar 25, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Gradient Ventures' Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Gradient Ventures has invested in 203 companies over the last 9 years, with an average of 22 new investments annually in the last 5 years. In 2025, it made 28 investments, while as of Oct 2026, it has made 26 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Photon and most recent follow-on round was in BackOps.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 17 | 9 | 26 |
2025 | 19 | 9 | 28 |
2024 | 18 | 11 | 29 |
2023 | 24 | 12 | 36 |
2022 | 26 | 11 | 37 |
2021 | 21 | 17 | 38 |
2020 | 24 | 14 | 38 |
2019 | 15 | 5 | 20 |
2018 | 13 | 1 | 14 |
2017 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
Gradient Ventures' Investments by Stage
Gradient Ventures has made 117 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $6.14M, 54 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $14.2M, 7 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $25M, 2 investments in Unattributed stage with an average round size of $9.1M and 1 investment in Series D stage with an average round size of $8.65M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 117 |
Series A | 54 |
Series B | 7 |
Unattributed | 2 |
Series D | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Gradient Ventures' Investments by Sector
Gradient Ventures has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, High Tech, FinTech, Enterprise Infrastructure and Vertical SaaS. Notably, it has invested in 189 Tech companies, 171 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 161 Software companies and at least 107 companies focusing on Saas.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 144 |
High Tech | 55 |
FinTech | 37 |
Enterprise Infrastructure | 27 |
Vertical SaaS | 24 |
Others | 126 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Gradient Ventures' Investments by Geography
Gradient Ventures has made most investments in United States (136), followed by Germany where it has made 8 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 136 |
Germany | 8 |
Canada | 6 |
Netherlands | 6 |
United Kingdom | 6 |
Others | 16 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Gradient Ventures' recent investments
Gradient Ventures has made 26 investments in 2026 so far. Photon and Feather are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by Gradient Ventures:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 01, 2026 | United States | Seed | 9769 | [+4] | |
Sep 24, 2026 | United States | Seed | 1267 | [+2] | |
Sep 17, 2026 | United States | Seed | 1121 | [+2] | |
Sep 16, 2026 | United States | Series B | 7670 | [+3] | |
Aug 26, 2026 | United States | Seed | 2494 | [+3] |
Unicorns in Gradient Ventures' Portfolio
Gradient Ventures has 4 unicorns in its portfolio - WRITER, Lambda AI, Oura and others. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is WRITER. It became a unicorn in 2024, 2 years after Gradient Ventures first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Gradient Ventures' portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
70 | Developer of an enterprise AI platform for agentic work | 2012 | San Francisco | Series C | ncbzfsc | ||
62 | Provider of supercomputers, clusters, and instances for artificial intelligence development | 2012 | San Jose | Series E | mdxcwss | ||
79 | Developer of a smart ring for sleep, fitness, stress, and health | 2013 | Oulu | Series E | rqwpokg | ||
52 | Cloud-based whiteboarding platform provider | 2011 | San Francisco | Series C | lrpkzkn |
Acquired companies in Gradient Ventures' Portfolio
39 companies from Gradient Ventures' portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Astro in Jan 2026 by CloudFlare for $*****.Here are Gradient Ventures' portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 19, 2026 | Jan 12, 2022 | Seed | 5583 | |
Oct 29, 2025 | May 09, 2022 | Seed | 8527 | |
Oct 28, 2025 | - | - | 5428 | |
Oct 06, 2025 | Jul 13, 2023 | Series A | 1117 | |
Sep 23, 2025 | Apr 06, 2022 | Seed | 6209 |
Team profile of Gradient Ventures
Gradient Ventures has a team of 7 members including 7 Partners located in United States. Gradient Ventures' team sits on the board of 3 companies.Here is a list of all team members in Gradient Ventures:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | United States | MainStreet and Range | ||
Partner | United States | - | ||
Partner | San Francisco | - | - | |
Partner | New York | - | - | |
Partner | United States | - | ||
Partner | United States | - | ||
Partner | San Francisco | - |
Co-investors of Gradient Ventures
Over the past 9 years, 1162 investors have co-invested in Gradient Ventures's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Gradient Ventures: Y Combinator, Europa and 207 others have invested in rounds before Gradient Ventures. There are 30 companies where Y Combinator has invested before Gradient Ventures and 2 companies where Europa has invested before Gradient Ventures.
- Top Co-investors of Gradient Ventures: 578 investors entered a company along with Gradient Ventures. These include investors like Soma Capital (9 companies).
- Invested after Gradient Ventures: A total of 375 investors have invested in Gradient Ventures's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Tiger Global Management (8 companies), Andreessen Horowitz (5 companies) and Citi (3 companies).
Recent News related to Gradient Ventures
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Polyphron Raises $20M in Seed Funding for Drug DevelopmentFinSMEs•Sep 17, 2026•Gradient Ventures, Polyphron, Haystack, Quiet Capital and 1 other
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AI-native clearinghouse for insurance Axle raises $17.5mFinextra•Aug 11, 2026•Axle, Gradient Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, Y Combinator and 1 other
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Sapiom Secures $35 Million Series A to Control AI Agent CostsPYMNTS.com•Aug 06, 2026•Sapiom, DragonFly MAX, Formus Capital, Gradient Ventures and 5 others
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Credible Data Raises $10M Seed Funding for Enterprise AI PlatformThe SaaS News•Jul 29, 2026•Gradient Ventures, Credible Data, K5 Global, SignalFire and 2 others
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Gradient Google icon redesign rolls out on iPhone and web [U]9to5Google•May 27, 2026•Gradient Ventures
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Fazeshift Secures $17 Million Series A to Enhance Accounts Receivable Automation with AI AgentsTechnologies.org•May 08, 2026•Fazeshift, F-Prime Capital, Gradient Ventures, Y Combinator and 4 others
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Openly Expands Allianz Partnership and Closes Growth Investment Round to Scale U.S. FootprintBusiness Wire•Apr 22, 2026•Openly, Allianz Reinsurance, Eden Global Partners, Advance Venture Partners and 2 others
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Sona Raises $45M Series B to Bring AI to the Frontline Economyintelligence360•Apr 20, 2026•N47, Italianfoundersfund.com, Gradient Ventures, Felicis Ventures and 2 others
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Helical Raises $10M For Virtual AI LabStartupNews•Apr 14, 2026•Frst Capital, Helical, Gradient Ventures, BoxGroup and 6 others
