Norwest Venture Partners

This week our portfolio company, Swiggy, heads toward a significant milestone, cementing their position as one of the top companies in India’s food and quick commerce market. It’s been gratifying to witness their growth since we led their Series B nearly a decade ago. From the beginning, Sriharsha M. and the Swiggy team were innovators who committed to creatively using technology in every aspect of the product. Congratulations to Swiggy, Niren Shah, Ankit Prasad, and our Norwest India team on this important milestone!

Ever seen a boardroom sweat over a security incident? Our panelists have — more than once. 🎙️ On November 12, industry giants like Phil Venables (Google Cloud), Deneen DeFiore (United Airlines), Myrna Soto (ex-Comcast), and Alex Stamos (SentinelOne) are spilling secrets on how to position yourself as a board member. Not your average panel. 🔗 Register Now: https://lnkd.in/gdcNiWyR #CISO #CareerDevelopment #CyberSecurity Dave Zilberman Karena Man

At Beauty Connect LA, Norwest GP Sonya Brown shared her take on beauty’s market cycles and what’s ahead in 2025. With a ‘healthy reset’ in motion, Sonya predicts that some funds stay pencils down on the space, while other traditional consumer brand investors like Norwest continue to look for opportunities within the current market environment. She also shared how our team is doubling down on science-backed, problem-solution oriented brands as savvy consumers continue to allocate their dollars based on efficacy and results. Norwest has been following, and investing in, the beauty and skincare industry for over a decade. Over that time, we have observed buyers increasingly gravitate toward clinical beauty brands. Our team looked into the trends driving that category and how brands in the space can maximize their valuations: https://lnkd.in/dRk4xpBJ

What can business leaders learn from failure? Norwest Partner Sean Jacobsohn sat down with Harvard Business Review to: ✅ Share the six forces of failure he’s identified while building his Failure Museum. ✅ Show his personal favorite collector’s items: think Harley-Davidson cologne, Cheetos lip balm, and Ken’s best friend Alan. Watch: https://lnkd.in/g5mY2imF

📣 Calling all early-stage cybersecurity leaders: here's how to get the most from working with Gartner. Positive Gartner coverage can supercharge your startup: bringing funding at higher valuations, increasing customer consideration, and speeding growth. All this boosts the odds of a successful exit. But we often hear that founders’ roadblock is understanding Gartner’s inner workings and how to leverage it. Friend of Norwest and marketing leader extraordinaire Seth Knox has created a step-by-step resource on how to: ✔️ Get your Gartner category strategy right  ✔️ Gain early visibility as a Gartner Cool Vendor Seth has a ton of experience leading companies through transformative growth to acquisitions by industry giants like Cisco, Symantec, and VMware. Former Gartner analysts Dr. Anton Chuvakin, David Mahdi, and Richard Stiennon weighed in on the details.

It is cheaper and easier than ever to create deepfakes.   They’re also more sophisticated than ever — and organizations must have their guard up to combat attacks.   Norwest GP Dave Zilberman runs down the key drivers of the deepfake security market in this #NorwestNowcast. For more on deepfakes, read Dave and Bayan Alizadeh's blog: https://nvp.co/deepfake

When most people think of deepfake attacks, they think of politicians – especially in an election year. But with the rise of AI, deepfake attacks are increasingly targeting enterprises. General Partner Dave Zilberman spoke with Sam Sabin at Axios about the rise of deepfakes in the enterprise and why they’re creating an appetite for security solutions. Key takeaways: ➡️ Deepfake security tools will become a regular part of the enterprise tech stack as attacks get more sophisticated. ➡️ The market for deepfake security tools spans six categories: deepfake image/video detection, deepfake audio detection, content watermarking, identity verification, brand protection and content licensing, and narrative attack protection. ➡️ Convincing deepfake attacks on enterprises aren’t a future threat – they’re already here. Earlier this year, a finance worker was duped into sending $25 million to attackers who used a deepfake “video conference”? Read on to learn more: https://lnkd.in/g3xVGdpn

For the fourth year in a row, we’re proud to be recognized as a founder-friendly investor by Inc. Magazine! We believe in honoring the legacy of what has worked for our founders while offering insights, resources, and a broad network of trusted experts to assist in a handful of strategic areas to support meaningful growth. Or as we call it: the Invited Guest Approach. Here’s to the entrepreneurs across our portfolio who’ve partnered with us on their journeys. 🥂 https://lnkd.in/e5SNdkd9

What do board members actually ask security leaders in board meetings? And what’s the best way to present cybersecurity incidents? Our esteemed panel will cover these questions and more on November 12 at 9am PT / 12pm ET. Register now: https://lnkd.in/gdcNiWyR Hosted by Norwest Venture Partners and Korn Ferry, we’ll be joined by current and former CISOS from Google Cloud, United Airlines, Comcast, and SentinelOne. These battled-tested leaders will discuss becoming “board-ready” and share their guidance for those seeking the same path.

When it comes to doing more with less, performance marketers know how to dial it in. The experts in our portfolio shared how they’ve generated pipeline to land big wins: ◻️ Before large-scale channels are established, low-cost / high ROI traction tactics can be useful. Sedai CMO John Jamie shared about a “Zero Demo” tradeshow they did that focused on incentives for post-event demos instead. ◻️ Narrow in on your audience and get specific about how you serve them. Qualified CMO Maura Rivera put it this way: “You can’t be everything to everybody.” ◻️ Build pipeline and growth by upleveling your ABM strategy. Simpplr CMO Gary Sevounts has implemented an approach he calls Treasure Ops (TOPS), which takes top account ownership to another level!