Consider last week’s software collapse: Fear of AI and stalled market dynamics evaporated $1 trillion in market value, falling to private companies.

“The funding mechanism for the software LBO complex has short-circuited, IPO markets are weak, and it’s gummed up with machinery,” said Paul Wick, chief investment officer of the $30 billion investment firm Seligman. “There’s no longer a red line where software stocks don’t go below a certain point… It’s a psychological shift, as well. People are more scared.”

Wick has long watched public and private markets intersect and diverge—he began investing in technology in the 1990s. In 1999, he first met Umesh Padval, then CEO of the public semiconductor company C-Cube Microsystems. The pair kept in touch over the years, united by a shared love of wine and a realism about technology.

“I’ve wanted to do something in VC for a long time, but it was hard to find the right people and the right opportunity,” says Wick. “And then there’s Umesh.”

Seligman, today, launched venture arm Seligman Ventures, a $500 million fund that promotes early-stage investment in AI, luck exclusively learned. Padval—an early investor in Cohere, Relyance AI, Exaforce, and Harness—will lead the charge, along with Ashish Kakran and Eddie Ackerman.

Unlike Lightspeed and Andreessen Horowitz who have deployed billions, Padval looks to stay smaller: “I’ve always believed in the Benchmark-type model, stay in the $400 million to $800 million-range, build those companies, and get 10x from there.

The idea was for Wick and Padval, united under an LP, to share information, with Padval bringing what he saw earlier in the pipeline to Wick, and vice versa. To this end, Seligman Ventures will focus on AI infrastructure, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and modern data center hardware. And it may seem counterintuitive, but from Wick’s seat: True value shows up early, before late-stage investors can fun-house-mirror a company’s worth.

“There’s a tendency for late-stage funding rounds to be aggressively valued, and early-stage VCs like to see their investments marked down, so they don’t have to fight,” Wick said. “But when you see that these companies finally go public, their IPOs are not a resounding success. Many times, they are the same price four or five years ago. No one has made a profit flipping through IPOs. So, bringing Umesh and his colleagues on board with their early-stage focus is interesting to me.

Padval and Wick, on the one hand, are trying to solve a problem that everyone is trying to solve: As companies stay private longer, swallowing more capital than ever before, where exactly is the value?

One point in their favor is that, in a historical sense, the company has been around a long time: Seligman has its roots in J. & W. Seligman & Co., an investment bank founded in 1864. And J. & W. Seligman & Co. helped finance the Panama Canal and railroads through the Industrial Revolution—another time when new technology was destabilizing anyone’s markets.

see you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: [email protected]
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VENTURE CAPITAL

– Loyala Dallas, Texas-based developer of longevity drugs for dogs, has raised $100 million in Series C funding. age1 led the round and was joined by Baillie Gifford and existing investors.

– Lassiea Stockholm, Sweden-based pet insurance platform, has raised $75 million in Series C funding from Balderton capital, Felix capital, Inventoryand so on.

– GitGuardiana Paris, France-based non-human identity security platform, has raised $50 million in Series C funding. Sight Colleagues led the round and was joined by Quadrille capital and existing investors.

– both Partsan Austin, Texas-based AI-native insurance distributor, raised $23 million in Series A funding. encouraged capital led the round and was joined by both Trades, Max Tradesand Genius Trades.

– Mattiaa data operations platform based in Miami, Fla., has raised $21 million in Series A funding. red Dot capital led the round and was joined by existing investors.

– WINN.AIa Tel Aviv, Israel-based sales assistant platform designed for coaching and guiding during customer calls, has raised $18 million in Series A funding. Insight Partners, Mongoose capitaland S Capital led the round and was accompanied by CASH, Highsage, Alumni Trades, Cover Tradesand Our People.

– Meridiana New York City-based AI-powered financial modeling platform designed to integrate with Excel, has raised $17 million in seed funding. Andreessen Horowitz and the general Partnership leading the round.

– Title 2a New York City-based AI agent platform designed for healthcare recruiting, has raised $14 million in Series A funding. man capital led the round and was joined by Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments, Arrival of Capital, SemperVirens VCand Honeystone Ventures.

– Scala.aian intelligence platform based in Bellevue, Wash. designed for contact centers, raised $8.5 million in funding, including $7.5 million in seed funding. madrona and FUSE led the seed round.

– surface Roboticsan Ontario, Canada-based developer of autonomous robots designed to feed plants, has raised $7.5 million in seed funding. Plural led the round and was joined by others.

– bracketsa London, UK based FX, treasury, and money management platform, has raised $7 million in funding. Macquarie group and Blackfinch Trades led the tour and was joined by others.

– Pelgoa New York-based AI agent platform designed to help with career transitions, has secured $5.5 million in seed funding. Flybridge capital Colleagues led the round and was joined by Eniac ARLINGTON, Primary Venture Colleaguesand 645 Trades.

– BEAST Labsa generative UX platform based in London, UK, has raised $5 million in seed funding. Cherry Trades led the round and was joined by Opened seed, Pareto, Plug & Play, Trades HOUSEMATESand angel investors.

– Seamflowa London, UK-based developer of AI for the testing, inspection, and certification industry, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Northzone and initiated capital led the round and was accompanied by Garry Tan and so on.

– Cydelphia Dallas, Texas-based developer of an AI-enabled digital forensics & incident response platform, has raised $3 million in seed funding. Glasswing Trades led the round and was joined by Blu Trades, Hyde Park Angelsand Merlin group.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Smart Carda portfolio company of 3i groupObtained Lost and Found Softwareis a Frankfurt, Germany-based developer of lost property operations software. Financial terms were not disclosed.

PEOPLE

– Bessemer Venture Colleaguesa venture capital firm based in San Francisco, highlighted many Malik of the Vice President.

– Branford Castle Colleaguesa New York City and Boca Raton, Fla.-based private equity firm, initiated Marilyn that of the managing director.

– Copilot capitala London, UK-based private equity firm, highlighted Dave Sun to partner and Xerxes Billimoria to the director.

– Happya Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm, initiated James Detweiler in general partner and Eric Flanning to partner. The company is also hiring Michael Chenwho was formerly with Applied Compute, as a venture partner.