Norwest

An operator mindset means having respect and empathy for all the work that CEOs and founders put into their companies and offering the resources and guidance they need throughout their journey. This mindset guides us in partnering with companies, and it shapes our invited guest approach. Founders know their businesses best, and we're here to support them every step of the way.

We’re excited to announce that Norwest is leading @Covaldev’s Series A. Coval is building the operations platform for enterprise voice agents, helping organizations test, observe, and improve voice systems before and after deployment. As voice becomes a primary interface for AI, the infrastructure to support it in production will be essential. We’re proud to partner with @bnicholehopkins and the Coval team as they build for that future. Read more from @sbeechuk and Nikhil Goel on why we’re backing Coval: norwest.co/coval

I’m excited to share that I’ve joined the @NorwestVP Portfolio Success team as Product, AI & Technology Operating Executive and Principal. I’ve always enjoyed working with teams at the intersection of product, technology, and growth. That work is only getting more important as AI changes how companies build and operate. CEOs and founders are being asked to make big decisions quickly, and there’s an opportunity to apply AI in strategic ways that are tied to measurable business outcomes. I’ll be partnering with portfolio companies, the investment team, and leadership on product strategy, AI enablement, talent strategy, and org design. I’ll also help continue building the firm’s product and technology leadership community across the Norwest Operator Collective and Senior Advisor Network. It’s been a lot of fun already working closely with Katie Belding and the Norwest team, as we continue expanding the technical guidance Norwest brings to its portfolio. More here: norwest.co/ai-leadership

@GeneralistAI is building the foundation model for the physical world and today, we’re proud to announce our participation in the company’s $400M round. Built and led by a world-class robotics team, we’re looking forward to partnering with Generalist AI on its mission to make general-purpose robots a reality. More in @Bloomberg: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Big news for @natomalabs the company has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by @Snowflake. We backed @pratyus, Will Potter, Paresh Bhaya and team because they saw where enterprise AI infrastructure was headed early. Proud to have partnered with them. natoma.ai/blog/natoma-sn…

A few weeks later, and we’re still reflecting on the conversations and connections that came out of the 2026 Norwest CEO Summit. Over two days, 90+ portfolio CEOs stepped away from the day-to-day to share candid perspectives on the decisions shaping their businesses today. From AI and culture to growth, leadership, and preparing for successful exits. Alongside the discussions, there was also time for more informal connection: pickleball, golf, HIIT workouts, and the kind of conversations that usually happen in between sessions and over a shared meal. We’re grateful to everyone who took time out of incredibly busy schedules to join us and contribute so openly. Building a company can be isolating, and having a trusted peer network behind you can make all the difference.

AI is redefining the future of HR tech. We believe the next generation of HR software will move beyond systems of record to become systems of action, helping organizations make better workforce decisions in real time. Together with @StormVentures, we mapped the HR tech stack & landscape across core HCM, talent, employee experience, governance, analytics, and vertical solutions. Explore the full perspective: norwest.co/HRtech

At our CEO Summit, we brought together leaders from @OpenAI, @Google, and @youdotcom to dig into exactly that. A few things that stood out: 🔹 CEOs must choose between centralized and federated AI strategies, and set the appetite for risk. 🔹 The AI capabilities gap is widening fast. Build for where the models will be, not where they are today. 🔹 AI strategy should follow business strategy, not the other way around. **🔹** Culture and organizational design are the real differentiators. 🔹 Plant the seeds across the org, and let the flowers bloom. Full recap here: norwest.co/ai-inflection-… Thank you to @colinevans, @neilhoyne, @srbh_shrm, and moderator @hopeking for the conversation.

Before Silicon Valley had a name, Norwest was backing world-changing ideas. For 65 years, our focus has stayed the same: meet companies where they are, offer perspective shaped by experience, and help them grow over time.

Renen Hallak from @VAST_Data joins today’s @TBPN show following the company's Series F financing announcement at a $30 billion valuation – a more than threefold increase from its $9.1 billion Series E valuation in late 2023. A key voice in how next-gen data infrastructure is evolving. Companies from CoreWeave to Lowe’s, the U.S. Air Force to Cursor, and thousands of others rely on VAST to store, contextualize, and act on data, supporting some of the world’s most advanced AI training and inference initiatives.

That’s a wrap on the Norwest CEO Summit! Over the past three days, we hosted nearly 100 founders and CEOs from our portfolio in Half Moon Bay. Whether in peer circles, panels or on the golf course, the group conferred around scaling AI, growing a sales org, strategic readiness for M&A and board governance. Thank you to our CEOs for not only joining us, but for working so hard on behalf of your companies and employees. We are lucky to have such an incredible group of leaders in our portfolio.

By 2030, agentic commerce could drive up to $17.5T in commerce according to @Deloitte. Humans have always been the decision makers at the center of a transaction. AI agents change that model. As AI moves from generating content to executing actions, agents will increasingly search, negotiate, procure, and transact autonomously. In this paradigm, agents become economic actors equipped with native payment capabilities. As this unfolds, we see a new ecosystem forming across three categories: 1️⃣ Payment infrastructure allows agents to move money and enable merchants to accept agent-initiated payments. 2️⃣ Billing and monetization systems provide real-time usage metering, cost attribution, pricing, invoicing, and spend controls. 3️⃣ Identity and permissions help manage how agents verify who they represent and what they are authorized to do. The strongest signal that this shift is real is that major platforms are already moving swiftly to operationalize pieces of the stack. Norwest Principal @jleites13 breaks down the rise of agentic payments and the emerging technology stack behind it: norwest.co/agentic-paymen…

Congratulations to 4 Norwest portfolio companies on @FastCompany's 2026 Most Innovative Companies list 👏 🔹 @babylist #1 Corporate Social Responsibility 🔹 @Gong_io #7 Applied AI 🔹 @Plaid #16 Finance and Personal Finance 🔹 @wisqinc #2 Human Resources 🔗: fastcompany.com/most-innovativ…

We’re proud to share that @OuroMeds , a Norwest portfolio company, has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by @GileadSciences. When we co-led Ouro Medicine’s Series A in 2024, we deeply believed in its mission to fundamentally change how chronic immune-mediated diseases are treated. Congratulations on this significant milestone, and we look forward to supporting the company in its next chapter with Gilead. Read more: gilead.com/news/news-deta…

The rise of AI agents means both new opportunities and an onslaught of never-before-seen cyber risks. This is opening the door to a new generation of AI-native cybersecurity startups, and investors are paying attention. @Zilberman shares his perspective on the ecosystem in @NewcomerMedia via @maddierenbarger, noting that enduring security platforms are not just a “UI veneer on an LLM.” newcomer.co/p/venture-inve…

Announcing Nimble! The web holds the data to help AI take the next leap, but it isn’t a database. So we built a product that makes it behave like one. We’ve raised $75M from @NorwestVP, @databricks, and leading VCs to build a system that enables anyone to create live datasets from the web, instantly queryable by AI Agents.

📣 Calling all early-stage founders who are thinking about their first product hire — this virtual fireside chat is for you. Tomorrow, we're digging into one of the trickiest early hire founders make: your first product leader and how to get the timing right. Join Norwest GP @Zilberman and Senior Advisor @Boulder_ScottW (ex CPO at GitLab; VPP at SendGrid/Twilio) at 9am PT for a practical fireside chat that will cover: ▪️ When founders should not hire a Head of Product (and what to do instead) ▪️ How to delegate decision rights without losing product intuition ▪️ Common founder–product leader failure modes and how to avoid them Last chance to register: norwest.co/product-hire #ProductHire #HeadofProduct #ProductLead