Welcome To The ‘Show Me’ Era: Sapphire Ventures’ Anders Ranum On What Separates Winning AI Startups From The Rest
figure — public market software multiples are hovering at decade lows as investors price in the long-term risk of AI disruption. Meanwhile, private market valuations for AI startups continue to hit record highs.
Striking a balance between these two conflicting signals is the central challenge for today’s growth equity investors. To understand how institutional capital is navigating this gap, Crunchbase News recently interviewed Anders Ranum, a partner at Sapphire Ventures. Ranum has spent nearly 15 years at the firm, where he focuses on B2B enterprise software, security and industrial infrastructure. Prior to joining Sapphire, he spent 12 years as a product management and strategy executive at SAP. His recent investments include core infrastructure plays such as LangChain and WorkOS, as well as the industrial AI platform Tractian. In this e-mail interview, Ranum breaks down how the definition of net revenue retention is shifting, why he believes 2026 will see a historic run of major tech IPOs, and where real enterprise demand is materializing on the factory floor. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Crunchbase News: You’ve been at Sapphire for 15 years. Right now, public market software multiples are at decade lows as Wall Street worries about AI disruption, while private AI valuations are hitting record highs. As a growth investor caught in the middle, how are you valuing companies today? Are traditional growth metrics like net revenue retention still the gold standard, or has the math completely changed? Anders Ranum, partner at Sapphire Ventures. (Courtesy photo) Ranum: The gap between public and private market signals right now is unlike anything I’ve seen. I think it creates a real opportunity for investors who can make sense of it. Public software multiples have come down hard, while private AI valuations are hitting record highs. Those two things can’t both be right indefinitely, but the fundamentals underneath are holding up.
