Investments
1004Portfolio Exits
270Funds
27Partners & Customers
10Service Providers
1About Charles River Ventures
Charles River Ventures (CRV) operates as a venture capital firm. It focuses on early-stage technology startups in the enterprise and consumer domain. The company provides financial investment and partnership to startups, aiding them from their founding stages through to their initial public offerings. It primarily serves the technology startup industry. It was founded in 1970 and is based in Palo Alto, California.
Expert Collections containing Charles River Ventures
Expert Collections are analyst-curated lists that highlight the companies you need to know in the most important technology spaces.
Find Charles River Ventures in 3 Expert Collections, including Store tech (In-store retail tech).
Store tech (In-store retail tech)
56 items
Startups aiming work with retailers to improve brick-and-mortar retail operations.
Travel Technology (Travel Tech)
39 items
Tech-enabled companies offering services and products focused on tourism. This collection includes booking services, search platforms, on-demand travel and recommendation sites, among others.
Education Technology (Edtech)
58 items
Latest Charles River Ventures News
Jul 3, 2025
Christoph Gerber and Sebastian Haas Talon.One , a leading enterprise loyalty and promotion software, today announced a $135 million growth funding round from new investors Silversmith Capital Partners and Meritech Capital, with participation of existing investor CRV. Talon.One’s platform empowers over 270 customers across a range of sectors to build personalized, scalable promotions and loyalty programs through smart use of data – driving deeper engagement and lasting loyalty with their customers, while also protecting their margins. The new capital will accelerate ongoing innovation of the Talon.One platform and strengthen the company’s leading market position in the US, UK, Europe and APAC. The investment will focus on delivering AI-powered intelligence and predictive insights, as well as deepening enterprise capabilities across sectors. “This investment is a powerful vote of confidence in the platform we’ve built, and the value we deliver to the world’s most trusted brands,” said Christoph Gerber, Co-founder and CEO of Talon.One. “We are excited to partner with Silversmith and Meritech to continue solving our customers’ most complex challenges.” “This next chapter will be all about scale and execution,” added Sebastian Haas, Co-founder and COO. “With this investment, we will accelerate innovation in AI, enhance enterprise functionality, and continue building the most flexible and powerful incentive infrastructure on the market.” “Since our first investment, it has been incredible to witness Talon.One’s journey and consistent execution. This round is a clear validation of their vision and the trust of their growing base of global enterprise customers. We are thrilled to deepen our commitment,” commented Reid Christian, General Partner at CRV. Incentives moving from cost center to strategic growth lever “Talon.One continues to redefine what loyalty and promotion should look like for modern enterprises,” said Alex Clayton, General Partner at Meritech Capital. “There is an undeniable and growing market need for truly flexible, data-driven promotion and loyalty solutions.” According to a recent Harvard Business Review report, brands are moving away from mass discounting as they focus on the profitability of promotions amid a challenging economic environment. Personalized, data driven incentive strategies are moving up today’s boardroom agenda as they are recognized as a key strategic lever to boost ROI and long-term loyalty. The research also highlights that forward thinking brands today understand the meaningful benefits to be realized from the integration of loyalty and promotions programs – from revenue growth to greater customer loyalty, to improved data capture opportunities and increased ROI of marketing efforts. As a result, incentive programs are no longer regarded as cost centers but active value drivers in a crowded marketplace. A best-in-class infrastructure for smart incentives Talon.One’s loyalty & promotion software enables marketing and product teams to launch and manage any type of incentive, from percentage-off discounts to multi-tiered loyalty schemes, cashback campaigns, and gamified experiences, all through a single, unified system. The platform’s “headless” architecture, intuitive Rule Engine, and deep integrations with partners enable seamless deployment across online and in-store channels, with no need for custom development. Partners include Braze, a leading customer engagement platform, and Shopify, where Talon.One is the only enterprise-grade promotions and loyalty engine currently integrated. Talon.One’s solution is designed to be compatible with any tech stack, offering a scalable tool for all sectors including retailers, QSR, grocery chains and financial institutions. “Talon.One is solving an incredibly complex and mission-critical problem with elegant, enterprise-grade infrastructure,” said Sri Rao, General Partner at Silversmith Capital Partners. “They built the most modern and scalable platform in a massive category. We are excited to support them and become part of their next chapter of growth.” You can read the Harvard Business Review report, Getting Strategic About Incentives, sponsored by Talon.One here . About Talon.One Talon.One is the most powerful incentives engine that unifies loyalty, promotions and gamification into one holistic platform. Backed by enterprise-grade security and scalability, Talon.One empowers companies to design, orchestrate and build personalized, profitable promotions and loyalty programs using any data from any source. The world’s most-loved brands including Adidas, Sephora and Carlsberg work with Talon.One to drive deeper engagement and lasting loyalty with their customers. Founded in 2015, the company has a global reach with teams in Berlin, London, Boston and Singapore, and over 270 customers across North America, Europe and APAC. It was recognized in Gartner’s 2025 Market Guide for Loyalty Program Vendors, and as a major player in IDC’s 2024 MarketScape report for Loyalty Software Providers. About Silversmith Capital Partners Founded in 2015, Silversmith Capital Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm with $3.3 billion of capital under management. Silversmith’s mission is to partner with and support the best entrepreneurs in growing, profitable technology and healthcare companies. Representative investments include ActiveCampaign, Appfire, Apryse, DistroKid, impact.com, Iodine Software, LifeStance Health, Onbe, and Webflow. For more information, including a full list of portfolio investments, visit www.silversmith.com or follow the firm on LinkedIn. About Meritech Capital Meritech is a leading provider of late-stage venture capital to category-defining private technology companies and has been one of the top-performing venture firms of the past two-plus decades. The firm was founded in 1999 and cumulatively manages over $5 billion in total capital. Representative investments include Auth0, Anaplan, Braze, Carta, Coupa, Datadog, Facebook, Flock Safety, Looker, MuleSoft, NetSuite, Roblox, Salesforce, Segment, Snowflake, Tableau, and UiPath. The firm is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, and can be found at www.meritechcapital.com . About CRV CRV is a venture capital firm that invests in early stage startups. Since 1970, the firm has invested in more than 600 startups at their most crucial stages, including Airtable, DoorDash and Vercel. Founders need more than capital to build a great company. It takes a partner who understands the entrepreneurial journey and knows what it takes to win. From founding to IPO and beyond, CRV is there every step of the way. Founders rely on CRV to be trusted, long-term, committed partners, which has helped make CRV into one of the longest-running venture capital firms in the world. Learn more about CRV and the companies shaping the future at https://www.crv.com .
Charles River Ventures Investments
1,004 Investments
Charles River Ventures has made 1,004 investments. Their latest investment was in DYNA as part of their Series A on September 15, 2025.

Charles River Ventures Investments Activity

Date | Round | Company | Amount | New? | Co-Investors | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9/15/2025 | Series A | DYNA | $120M | No | Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, First Round Capital, LG Technology Ventures, NVentures, RoboStrategy, Salesforce Ventures, Samsung NEXT, and Undisclosed Investors | 5 |
8/13/2025 | Series A | Protege | $25M | No | Bloomberg Beta, Flex Capital, Footwork, Liquid 2 Ventures, Shaper Capital, and Undisclosed Investors | 3 |
7/22/2025 | Seed VC - II | CandorIQ | $4.8M | Yes | 4 | |
7/2/2025 | Series A | |||||
6/24/2025 | Series A |
Date | 9/15/2025 | 8/13/2025 | 7/22/2025 | 7/2/2025 | 6/24/2025 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Round | Series A | Series A | Seed VC - II | Series A | Series A |
Company | DYNA | Protege | CandorIQ | ||
Amount | $120M | $25M | $4.8M | ||
New? | No | No | Yes | ||
Co-Investors | Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, First Round Capital, LG Technology Ventures, NVentures, RoboStrategy, Salesforce Ventures, Samsung NEXT, and Undisclosed Investors | Bloomberg Beta, Flex Capital, Footwork, Liquid 2 Ventures, Shaper Capital, and Undisclosed Investors | |||
Sources | 5 | 3 | 4 |
Charles River Ventures Portfolio Exits
270 Portfolio Exits
Charles River Ventures has 270 portfolio exits. Their latest portfolio exit was Atrium on August 27, 2025.
Date | Exit | Companies | Valuation Valuations are submitted by companies, mined from state filings or news, provided by VentureSource, or based on a comparables valuation model. | Acquirer | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
8/27/2025 | Acquired | 3 | |||
7/18/2025 | Acq - Talent | 3 | |||
7/8/2025 | Acquired | 2 | |||
Charles River Ventures Fund History
27 Fund Histories
Charles River Ventures has 27 funds, including CRV XX.
Closing Date | Fund | Fund Type | Status | Amount | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
8/4/2025 | CRV XX | $750M | 1 | ||
10/7/2022 | CRV XIX | $1,000M | 1 | ||
10/7/2022 | CRV Select II | $500M | 1 | ||
7/16/2020 | CRV XVIII | ||||
5/11/2018 | CRV XVII |
Closing Date | 8/4/2025 | 10/7/2022 | 10/7/2022 | 7/16/2020 | 5/11/2018 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fund | CRV XX | CRV XIX | CRV Select II | CRV XVIII | CRV XVII |
Fund Type | |||||
Status | |||||
Amount | $750M | $1,000M | $500M | ||
Sources | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Charles River Ventures Partners & Customers
10 Partners and customers
Charles River Ventures has 10 strategic partners and customers. Charles River Ventures recently partnered with DYNA on March 3, 2025.
Date | Type | Business Partner | Country | News Snippet | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
3/25/2025 | Partner | DYNA | United States | 1 | |
1/6/2023 | Distributor | BullWise now the main disributor for CRV in ROI and NI Commenting on the partnership , Elise van der Wulp , global director of marketing and export sales at CRV , said : `` BullWise and CRV share a common mission . | 1 | ||
Partner | United States | 1 | |||
Partner | |||||
Partner |
Date | 3/25/2025 | 1/6/2023 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type | Partner | Distributor | Partner | Partner | Partner |
Business Partner | DYNA | ||||
Country | United States | United States | |||
News Snippet | BullWise now the main disributor for CRV in ROI and NI Commenting on the partnership , Elise van der Wulp , global director of marketing and export sales at CRV , said : `` BullWise and CRV share a common mission . | ||||
Sources | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Charles River Ventures Service Providers
1 Service Provider
Charles River Ventures has 1 service provider relationship
Service Provider | Associated Rounds | Provider Type | Service Type |
---|---|---|---|
Counsel | General Counsel |
Service Provider | |
---|---|
Associated Rounds | |
Provider Type | Counsel |
Service Type | General Counsel |
Partnership data by VentureSource
Charles River Ventures Team
33 Team Members
Charles River Ventures has 33 team members, including , .
Name | Work History | Title | Status |
---|---|---|---|
Rick Burnes | Founder | Current | |
Name | Rick Burnes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Work History | |||||
Title | Founder | ||||
Status | Current |
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