Jan 13, 2025

Swift Ventures is a venture capital firm with roots in Berkeley, California that primarily invests in early-stage AI startups. Investments by Swift include Arize AI, Dash Bio, GrayMatter Robotics, Superhuman, SafelyYou, Tubi (acquired), and others. Started by the founders of TubeMogul – which was acquired by Adobe in 2016 –  Swift touts “garage-to-IPO building and scaling expertise.” Pulse 2.0 interviewed Swift Ventures general partner Brett Wilson to learn more about the firm after its recent launch of a new AI Index. Brett Wilson’s Background What is Brett Wilson’s background? Wilson said: “I am an entrepreneur and investor. I founded Swift Ventures with my longtime collaborator John Hughes with the goal of creating the fund that we wished existed when we were starting out – a low-ego, sincerely helpful firm led by former founders who get it. Since then, we have backed over 30 early-stage companies. While our portfolio covers a wide range of industries, almost every company is laser-focused on achieving real-world breakthroughs using AI.” “Before Swift Ventures, I was Co-Founder and CEO of TubeMogul. TubeMogul was an early pioneer in applying AI and automation to advertising and media buying and was one of the top performing IPOs in 2014 before being acquired by Adobe in 2016.” “I am also privileged to be on multiple startup and philanthropic boards, including Arize AI, WeTravel, and the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.” Swift Ventures’ Thesis What is your firm’s investment thesis and how has it evolved over time? Wilson noted: “Since its founding in 2020, Swift Ventures has backed early-stage B2B AI application and infrastructure companies. That early focus on AI is proving prescient as the generative AI revolution takes off, with enterprise investment in AI forecast to top $69 billion this year.” “It did not look as promising on day one, however. When we founded Swift, many large enterprises were not yet seeing value from AI and the major LLMs did not exist. We were confident, however, because we believed not only in AI’s potential but also – more importantly – the founders we were backing, who combined unyielding resolve and a high do-to-say ratio with intellectual humility. That magic combination resulted in great early products.” Differentiation From Other Firms What differentiates Swift Ventures from other firms? Wilson emphasized: “Empathy, usefulness and trust. Our mission and passion is to help entrepreneurs grow, win and stay in the game. With our ‘garage-to-IPO’ experience as founders we are uniquely able to advise, help and mentor founders. Our North Star is to be the most helpful investor on the cap table. Investing is a labor of love for us, and our founders hopefully see and feel that.” Future Goals What are some of Swift’s future goals? Wilson affirmed: “Beyond growing Swift Ventures to invest in a new generation of founders and helping our portfolio companies achieve their vision, one new goal is to broaden the gains of the AI revolution to more people.” “AI is changing the world, but it’s leaving people out on the outside since most investors can’t invest in private companies like we do as a VC. Finding true AI companies and opportunities in the public markets outside the Magnificent Seven — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, NVIDIA and Tesla — is really hard amid the hype of the current moment.” “To help, we recently debuted an AI Index to rank top AI companies in the public market. The new list, which we update quarterly, is powered by a sophisticated scoring system that uses a fine-tuned LLM to analyze earnings and regulatory filings as well as data from a variety of sources to identify levels of AI investment, hiring, team composition, and employee contributions to AI research and open source models and tools. Available free, the index is designed to separate companies merely talking about AI from those making the corollary investments that we know are often required to achieve successful production deployments. The list includes some names you might expect (i.e. NVIDIA) as well as some you may not have heard of (i.e. AppLovin) – or necessarily think of as an AI company, like Expedia (more about Expedia AI initiatives).” Memorable Moments What have been your most memorable moments – whether challenges or successes – working for your firm so far? Wilson concluded: “Starting a VC firm is at times both humbling and inspiring in unexpected ways. One constant  high is getting to work with so many inspiring people, including former colleagues. One recent example was welcoming Farhad Massoudi, former CEO and founder of Tubi, as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Swift. Founders have greatly benefited from his expertise and passion, having led a company that went against the grain in offering an ad-supported, non-subscription streaming service that later sold to Fox for $440 million.” Pulse 2.0 focuses on business news, profiles, and deal flow coverage.