Tomasz Tunguz

Theory Ventures

Student of startups, author of tomtunguz.com, investor, & partner to founders.

General Partner

Redpoint Ventures

Privileged to support the journey of early stage SaaS, data and infrastructure founders. Worked with Looker ($2.6b M&A), MotherDuck, Mysten Labs (SUI), Monte Carlo, Omni, Chorus ($575m to ZI), Expensify (IPO), ThredUp (IPO), Kustomer ($1b sale to META), & others.

Managing Director

Winning with Data

I co-authored Winning with Data with Looker CEO Frank Bien.  Winning with Data: Transform Your Culture, Empower Your People, and Shape the Future explores  the cultural changes big data brings to business, and shows you how to adapt your organization to leverage data to maximum effect.

Co-Author

Google, Inc.

Managing AdSense for Social Networks including the $900M MySpace deal.
Managed AdSense International including product launches in Greece, Israel, Thailand, Indonesia and Bulgaria

Product Manager

Appian Corporation

Architected, developed and deployed systems for the US Government serving DHS

Engineer

Student of Startups
Backer of 9 unicorns
Author of http://tomtunguz.com 
Subscribe https://ttunguz.kit.com/ef0a779b9c

Founder

Private equity firms have emerged as the newest distribution channel for AI startups.

While public companies have decreased from 6,639 in 2000 to 3,550 in 2024, PE-owned companies in the US have grown from 1,950 to 14,300. The rate of growth continues to accelerate.

The crossover happened in 2009, when PE inventory overtook public company counts for the first time. By 2024, PE-backed companies outnumber public firms by roughly 4:1.

The shift is driven by the massive expansion of PE ownership across corporate America.

That’s not to say the sizes of PE-owned companies are the same as publics. In fact, they are smaller.

The point isn’t that startups previously focused on public companies. Rather, the data reveals the immense scale of private equity portfolios.

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Data Sources : CRSP, Wilshire 5000, PitchBook, American Investment Council, Citizens Bank.

The mid-market profile of these PE-owned companies suits AI startups’ desires for faster sales cycles.

Plus, the profit motive of private equity aligns perfectly with AI startups’ capacity to cut costs & drive efficiency. PE firms acquire companies to improve margins & operational performance before exit.

AI tools that reduce headcount, automate processes, or accelerate workflows deliver exactly what PE operating partners need.

A private equity firm owning 25 companies proves value in one or two before rolling out to the entire portfolio. Control enables rapid deployment. This creates an efficient channel for AI startups to demonstrate value & cross-sell.

PE firms gain operational leverage while AI startups access more than 14,000 motivated buyers. This new go-to-market motion redefines how AI software reaches the market, bypassing the traditional enterprise sales grind in favor of networks that can deploy at scale.

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