Dharmesh Thakker

Battery Ventures

General Partner

Opal Security

Board Member

Weaviate

Investor

Theta Lake

🔭 Galileo

Arize AI

Postman

Board Observer

Styra

Orkes

Cypress.io

Operational Support and Board Involvement in several transformational companies across the Cloud software, Devops, Data / AI and Cybersecurity ecosystems. 

Data / AI Related:
• Arize
• Collibra
• Databricks 
• Gong 
• Galileo 
• LinearB
• Machinify
• Matillion 
• Narvar 
• Neuron7

Cloud / Devops / Security Related:
• Cypress.io
• Contrast Security 
• Guardsquare 
• InfluxData
• Ordr 
• Orkes
• Opal Security
• Styra
• Postman
• Theta Lake
• Weaviate

Previous Board Involvement / Exited Companies:

• JFrog (Nasdaq: FROG)
• Sumo Logic (Nasdaq: SUMO)
• Confluent (Nasdaq: CFLT)
• MongoDB* (Nasdaq: MDB)
• Cloudera* (Nasdaq: CLDR)
• Qumu* (NASDAQ: QUMU) 

• Normalyze (Acquired by Proofpoint)
• Bridgecrew (Acquired by Palo Alto Networks) 
• Bionic (Acquired by CrowdStrike)
• Fungible (Acquired by Microsoft)
• Jask (Acquired by Sumo Logic) 
• Reflektion (Acquired by Sitecore) 
• Streamsets (Acquired by Software AG)
• Sensu (Acquired by Sumo Logic) 
• Actifio* (Acquired by Google) 
• Guavus* (Acquired by Thales) - Big data analytics for carriers and cable providers 
• Maginatics* (Acquired by EMC) - Scale-out Storage for Cloud Environments
• DynamicOps* (Acquired by VMware) - Cloud Automation solution 
• Saffron* (Acquired by Intel) - Deep Learning Platform with applications in Personalized Medicine, Insurance, and Aerospace

Operational Experience: 
• Strategy, Biz Dev & Product Management roles in Cloud Infrastructure, SaaS
• Involved with two start-ups (both acquired) and public companies (Exodus, Keynote) in US and Europe

*Investment preceded joining Battery Ventures.

For a full list of Battery’s portfolio companies and exits visit: https://www.battery.com/our-companies/list/

The views expressed here are my own and do not represent the views of my employer Battery Ventures; furthermore, there is no investment advice intended.

For the first time in my 15+ years operating and investing across the internet and cloud eras, I’m seeing six-to-ten-person startups reach $10M+ in ARR while being fully bootstrapped. Teams can now ship a product in weeks instead of months, test it through product-led growth, and leverage AI to drive efficiency across R&D, sales, and marketing. Yet in the most efficient era of company-building, we’re seeing a surge of outsized $50-100M seed and Series A rounds being raised. 
 
Many founders are first-timers operating in a market where fundraising has become a proxy for success. My advice to them: raise what you need, not what you can, and even if you raise a much larger round than usual, don’t feel compelled to grow at all costs. It’s easy to feel pressure to keep up with peers and the headlines announcing mega rounds, but big raises often come with expectations that shift focus away from customers and accelerate burn. Anything beyond a two to three year runway leads to unnecessary dilution and distraction, while constrained capital keeps teams disciplined and resourceful, and employees aligned on delivering customer value.
 
As investors, our responsibility to founders - and to our investors - is to help build enduring companies that create lasting value. At Battery Ventures, we believe the best way to do that is to pace capital thoughtfully and focus on customer validation. Buying more GPUs with venture capital only goes so far - sooner rather than later your AI software used by customers to drive value will be a better proxy to raise and invest capital!

General Partner at Battery Ventures - Supporting Early Founders building AI Infra and Apps

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