Madrona
Madrona Venture Group is a Seattle-based venture capital firm founded in 1995 that invests seed through acceleration-stage capital into technology companies, with offices in Seattle and Palo Alto and a portfolio of more than 100 companies.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1995
- HeadquartersSeattle, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Madrona does
Madrona Venture Group is a US venture capital firm founded in 1995 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The firm invests across seed, early, and acceleration stages into technology companies, with a historical concentration in the Pacific Northwest and an expanding national footprint following the 2022 opening of a Palo Alto office. Madrona operates from a base of 51–100 employees and manages an active portfolio of more than 100 companies, anchored by its early-stage investment in Amazon.
The firm's core "products" are its funds, its proprietary platform assets, and its deal-origination infrastructure. Platform assets include Madrona Venture Labs, an in-house incubation program that creates companies internally; the annual IA40 ranking, a curated list of the top private AI and intelligent-applications companies that functions as both a brand asset and a deal-sourcing channel; and the "Founded" podcast and published research, which serve as content-led founder-acquisition channels. The investing team includes senior managing directors with operating backgrounds (e.g., former Microsoft VP Soma Somasegar) and is supplemented by a dedicated Operating Partners platform that provides go-to-market and product guidance to portfolio companies.
Madrona's revenue model is the standard VC two-part structure: (1) recurring management fees, typically 1.5–2.5% of committed AUM, billed to limited partners across the fund lifecycle; and (2) carried interest, typically 20–30% of fund profits, realized upon liquidity events such as IPOs or acquisitions. The firm's 30-year track record includes the early Amazon investment as its defining outcome, and recent realizations include the 2025 sale of portfolio company Statsig to OpenAI for $1.1B. Madrona's go-to-market is dual-sided: it markets itself to founders through content, rankings, and incubation to secure deal flow, and to institutional LPs through performance track record and fund-cycle fundraising.
Madrona firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Madrona
- Legal name
- Madrona Venture Group
- Website
- https://madrona.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1995
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Madrona Venture Group is a Seattle-based venture capital firm founded in 1995 that invests seed through acceleration-stage capital into technology companies, with offices in Seattle and Palo Alto and a portfolio of more than 100 companies.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Madrona industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Venture Capital
- NAICS
- Miscellaneous Intermediation (52391)
- SIC
- Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Venture Studios / Company Builders (FSANAAAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated) (FSANAAAM)
Keywords
Where Madrona is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Seattle
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Madrona business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Venture Fund Management Fees & Carried Interest: As a venture capital firm, Madrona generates revenue through management fees on assets under management across multiple funds (Incubation/Seed, Early, Acceleration stages) and carried interest (typically 20-30%) on profitable exits from portfolio companies. The firm has backed successful exits including Amazon (IPO 1997), Impinj (IPO 2016), Smartsheet (IPO 2018), Snowflake (IPO 2020), Accolade (IPO 2020), Redfin (IPO 2017), Rover (IPO 2021, acquired by Blackstone 2024), Nautilus (IPO 2021), Clari (acquired by Vista 2025), Observe (acquired by Snowflake 2026), and Statsig (acquired by OpenAI 2025 for $1.1B).
Go-to-market motion3 records
Madrona product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Madrona is a venture capital firm that invests capital in founding teams from seed and incubation through acceleration stages, headquartered in Seattle with a Palo Alto office. Beyond capital, it provides full-stack operating support through Madrona Venture Labs (incubation), a Venture Growth platform (recruiting, BD, comms, customer intros), and proprietary category-defining content such as the IA40 ranking and Founded & Funded podcast. Revenue is generated through fund management fees and carried interest on portfolio exits.
Product overview
Madrona is a full-stack venture capital firm (not a unified software platform) whose offering is built around one core service — venture capital investment from seed/incubation through acceleration — and complemented by a set of named programs and content products: the Madrona Venture Labs incubation arm, the annual IA40 (Intelligent Applications 40) recognition program, the Founded & Funded podcast, Madrona Insights research publications, the Madrona Newsletter, and the Madrona Jobs talent board. These programs sit alongside the core investing service rather than as modules of a single product, collectively supporting founders from ideation through growth.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Madrona Venture Capital Investing
- Madrona Venture Labs (Incubation)
- IA40 (Intelligent Applications 40)
- Founded & Funded Podcast
Quantifiable outcome
- Statsig acquired by OpenAI in 2025 for $1.1 billion — one of the largest Seattle-area tech exits
- +9 more outcomes
Companies that use Madrona
Customer profileNamed customers23 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Madrona technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Madrona partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- AWS, T-Mobile, Prudential, Vanguard, Kaiser Permanente, US Bank (Gradial Customers)flagshipMadrona portfolio company Gradial serves major enterprises including AWS, T-Mobile, Prudential, Vanguard, Kaiser Permanente, and US Bank; Gradial's AI marketing agents drive up to 20x efficiency gains and 80-90% reduction in marketing campaign execution time.
- OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, xAI, ByteDance (Gray Swan Customers)flagshipMadrona co-led portfolio company Gray Swan's $40M Series A. Gray Swan's Arena red-teaming platform is used by leading frontier AI labs including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, xAI, and ByteDance; this is a major validation of Madrona's AI security thesis.
- OpenAI, Vercel, Pydantic, Braintrust (Temporal Partners)flagshipMadrona portfolio company Temporal has deepened partnerships with OpenAI, Vercel, Pydantic, and Braintrust as part of its $300M Series D growth strategy, supporting the Durable Execution platform for agentic AI applications.
- AMD (OpenHands Collaboration)coreMadrona portfolio company OpenHands announced a collaboration with AMD in November 2025 to enhance agent performance using Lemonade Server (open-source), supporting cloud-based coding agent deployments.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Madrona competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Index Ventures: San Francisco and London-based venture capital firm with a comparable early-to-growth stage focus on enterprise software, AI, and consumer. Index is a co-investor in Temporal and a peer in the enterprise software category where Madrona concentrates.
- Andreessen Horowitz: Silicon Valley-based multi-stage venture capital firm with a comparable AI and enterprise software focus. a16z is both a direct competitor for the same founders Madrona targets and a frequent co-investor (e.g., Temporal, Eclypsium, Cohesity). Operates a similar full-stack model with operating partners and a content/brand platform.
- Greylock Partners: Silicon Valley-based early-to-growth stage venture capital firm with deep enterprise software and consumer expertise. Greylock competes directly for AI/enterprise founders in the Bay Area, employs a similar partner-driven model, and frequently co-invests with Madrona.
- Kleiner Perkins: Silicon Valley-based multi-stage venture capital firm with a parallel focus on enterprise software, AI, and consumer. Kleiner Perkins recently led WisdomAI (a Madrona portfolio co-investment) and competes head-to-head for AI infrastructure deals in the same geographies.
- Lightspeed Venture Partners: Multi-stage technology venture capital firm with strong enterprise and consumer franchises. Lightspeed is a frequent co-investor with Madrona (Temporal, WisdomAI) and competes for similar early-to-growth stage AI and software deals across the U.S. and globally.
- Accel: Silicon Valley and London-based venture capital firm investing across early and growth stages in technology. Accel has parallel AI/enterprise focus and is a regular co-investor in Madrona's portfolio companies, with comparable brand strength among founders.
- NEA (New Enterprise Associates): Menlo Park-based multi-stage venture capital firm with one of the largest active portfolios in technology. NEA is a co-investor in Golden Analytics (with Madrona) and operates a comparable broad-stage model targeting AI, enterprise, and consumer.
- Founders Fund: San Francisco-based venture capital firm investing across stages in transformative technology companies. Founders Fund has a comparable AI/deep tech focus and competes for founders building frontier technology, with similar brand cachet among technical founders.
- IVP (Institutional Venture Partners): Menlo Park-based late-stage venture capital firm focused on high-growth technology companies. IVP operates a comparable stage-expansion thesis (Acceleration Stage parallels) and competes with Madrona's growth-stage checks for category-leading AI and enterprise companies.
Broad incumbents
- Sequoia Capital: Tier-1 multi-stage venture capital firm and one of the most established brands in technology investing. Sequoia is a direct competitor for AI/enterprise deals (co-invested in Temporal, Deepgram) and operates a similar full-stack platform but at materially greater scale and check size.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Madrona social profiles
Digital presenceMadrona financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Madrona leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles19 records
Madrona funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Madrona M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments600 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Madrona
What does Madrona do?
Madrona is a venture capital firm that invests capital in founding teams from seed and incubation through acceleration stages, headquartered in Seattle with a Palo Alto office. Beyond capital, it provides full-stack operating support through Madrona Venture Labs (incubation), a Venture Growth platform (recruiting, BD, comms, customer intros), and proprietary category-defining content such as the IA40 ranking and Founded & Funded podcast. Revenue is generated through fund management fees and carried interest on portfolio exits.
Is Madrona a public or private company?
Madrona is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Madrona founded?
Madrona was founded in 1995. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Madrona based?
Madrona is headquartered in Seattle, United States, in the North America region.
How does Madrona make money?
One revenue line is on record: venture Fund Management Fees & Carried Interest.
Who are Madrona's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, NEA (New Enterprise Associates), Founders Fund and IVP (Institutional Venture Partners). Sequoia Capital is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Madrona have an API?
No public API is recorded for Madrona.
What industry is Madrona in?
Madrona's product category is Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAH, Venture Studios / Company Builders, with a secondary code of FSANAAAM, Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated). Its NAICS code is 52391 and its SIC code is 6211.