Signalfire raises more than $ 1 billion, as LPS adopts data -based investment

Thirteen years ago, when Chris Farmer established the project company in the early stage Signalfire With data analysis at the heart of its investment strategy, many were skeptical in this approach – traditional wisdom dictated that startups did not have enough data to make investment algorithms effective.

“This was a very radical idea, and everyone believed that I was crazy,” said Farmer (in the picture above, on the right, alongside CTO and the Ilya Kirnos partner) for Techcrunch.

A lot has changed since I raised SignalFire The first $ 53 million Fund 2015. Today, more project companies depend on data dependent as well as traditional VC styles, or even sometimes instead, which often depend on communication.

In fact, many project companies claim today that they use them Amnesty International to the source Dealms, and even we have some Private companies that focus on markets That sells Analytical tools To help all types of investors do “qualitative care”.

However, Farmer feels that the SignAlFire approach is unique because, unlike other VCS that uses data, his company integrates artificial intelligence in each aspect of the investment process-from identifying promising early startups to help portfolios companies in employment and market marketing.

It seems that its limited partners agree that its investment methods will continue to refine them. On Monday, SignalFire said she had received more than one billion dollars from the new capital, which amounts to its total assets under management to about 3 billion dollars. This is the largest financing for the company ever, and it exceeds 900 million dollars It was raised two years ago.

At a time when many adventure companies were Reducing Their farmer says that raising these large funds means that “Signalfire” is “outside the proof of the concept and at the existing manager’s stage.”

Farmer said that the new LPS of the company includes giant pension plans, insurance companies, banks and Asian sovereignty. In fact, at CALPERS, the largest pension box in the United States According to what was reported, he committed 100 million dollars To Signalfire for the first time.

According to Farmer, there was an important reason for some of the world’s largest institutional investors who were enthusiastic about supporting his company was his focus on startups before the seeds.

Looking at its inherent size and bureaucracy, the giant LPS prefers writing large tests for the existing companies that are expected to continue. “Most seed boxes are small. They have a few wonderful money, then this is finished,” he said. “It is very difficult for large institutions to support such companies.”

Farmer claims that with SignalFire, huge investors can get the best in the world: exposure to very small startups on the scale and longevity they need.

Although the company’s first entry point to startups in the pre -seed and seeds stages, its model is to use its giant fund to continue investing in companies with their growth. Of course, this strategy is not very different from most of the multi -stage companies, with the exception that most of these investors tend to focus more on companies’ support at the beginning in the A.

“We use our scale for everyone’s superiority in The Seed,” Farmer said, noting that Signalfire has invested $ 100 million in some companies. This type of capital is not easily available for most companies that focus on seed.

Farmer said that the company’s model helped her to determine directions against its competitors, despite the presence of a few exits. It refers to early investments in startups such as grammatical rules, which amounted to the last $ 13 billion; Grow Therapy, which last year collected C 88 million dollars from Sequoia; Even, Amnesty International Program for Personal Injuries Program A value of more than one billion dollars.

For this new group of funds, the company plans to continue investing in the startups of the AI ​​sector for the sector, including healthcare, medicines, consumer, infrastructure, developers and cybersecurity.

Although focus on artificial intelligence, Signalfire deliberately avoids companies that build the basis layer for artificial intelligence models.

He said: “I think that many of the dollars of adventure that enter into their construction models are of great danger. They are approaching every two weeks through another model. You don’t know if it can be defended.”

On the contrary, SignalFire tries to invest in companies whose business model cannot be repeated easily. “I do not have a competitor. I love deep and deep deep defense,” said Farmer.