Sep 18, 2023

Sierra Ventures recently announced the closing of their 13th fund at $265 million, exceeding its target. And the firm has a disciplined model of right-sized funds to focus on being an early investor in the best B2B companies across North America at the seed and Series A stages. The firm has also generated top-performing funds by being the first investor in unicorns like Reify Health (Vertical SaaS) in Boston, Phenom (Enterprise Applications) in Philadelphia, and Astronomer (Infrastructure Software) in Cincinnati. Since 2012 – under the leadership of current Managing Partners Mark Fernandes, Tim Guleri, and Ben Yu – Sierra has raised three top-performing funds, while also thoughtfully growing the fund size to match their focus on the Seed and Series A stages. And Fund XIII will continue this strategy of finding the best B2B companies across the country and helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses with resources across product and go-to-market, executive recruiting, and fundraising. Plus, Sierra’s CXO Advisory Board, now in its 18th year, provided invaluable advice from over 75 F1000 technology executives to portfolio companies. Over the last 18 years, Sierra built an industry leading CXO board of over 75 Fortune 1000 CIOs, CTOs, CMOs, and CISOs. KEY QUOTES: “We are passionate about partnering with entrepreneurs with a vision to build enduring companies and helping them transform their ideas into successful businesses. The Sierra team takes a hands-on approach, rolling up our sleeves to work alongside founders, sharing our insights, and leveraging our extensive network to open doors that accelerate their development and market presence.” – Tim Guleri “Sierra’s CXO board serves as a compass for B2B startup founders, guiding them through the often-challenging landscape of enterprise selling. This council of experienced industry leaders not only offers key insights into technology gaps and strategic feedback to portfolio founders but provides a platform for meaningful connections.” – Mark Fernandes “The Sierra team has been an outstanding partner since leading our Series A, and they really appreciate how challenging the role of an early-stage founder is. They bring a wealth of enterprise software experience and a strong network to our team and are always willing to help.” – Ralph Passarella, Co-Founder & CEO of Reify Health “In a world where fund size might often be viewed as a measure of success, Sierra has taken a thoughtful approach to growing the size of its funds as well as maintaining discipline about the initial valuation of our investments. Both factors have contributed to the strong performance of our current funds, and we plan to continue that model.” – Ben Yu