95
Backers in a recent round
88 added at least one new company in this market. The remainder participated only in companies they had already backed here.
Explore recently active backers ↗MARKET NOTES / 001UNITED STATES / SAN FRANCISCO / COGNITIVE PROCESS AUTOMATION
LESS GUESSWORK. A BETTER RESEARCH LIST.Cognitive Process Automation.
Cognitive Process Automation.
San Francisco.
Map the capital.
Find your next conversation.
Who backs this market, where they enter, and how recently they have added a new company. A directory built around the questions founders actually ask.
Build your research shortlist ↘Companies are based in San Francisco · investors can be based anywhere
Dataset through 22 May 2026 · calculated 14 Sep 2026
01 / THE SHORTLIST LAB
Make the list work for your company.
24 backers based in San Francisco are shown by default. Compare up to three.
A CLOSER LOOK AT WHERE
Find investors in your preferred location.
Search a recorded city, country or neighbourhood among the backers of this market.
Five location searches per day. Results use recorded locations; some investors have city-level coverage only.
24 of 101 selected backers · San Francisco only
Shows investors whose recorded city is San Francisco. Unknown cities are excluded. Market charts cover all investor locations.
Theme filtering selects backers of companies carrying that theme tag. Entry-stage filtering selects backers with an entry at that stage; the two matches may be different companies. Row metrics describe their entire dated Cognitive Process Automation history in San Francisco.
Your side-by-side comparison
Lead flags and later investments may be incompletely recorded. Repeat counts are not adjusted for time since entry.
| Compare | Investor / recorded location | Companies here | New in 24 months | Median total entry round | Companies backed again | Latest investment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loading investors… | ||||||
No backers match these filters. Broaden the theme, location, entry stage or activity window.
02 / THE MARKET READActivity is a better starting point
Activity is a better starting point
than a long list of names.
Latest 24 months: after 22 May 2024 through 22 May 2026.
24
Distinct equity rounds
Across 20 companies, versus 14 rounds in the preceding 24 months. Each company round is counted once.
See the recent evidence ↗66.7%
Rounds at Angel, Pre-Seed or Seed
16 of 24 recent rounds. Compare your stage with its own financing range before sizing the ask.
Compare stage ranges ↗89%
Participations were first entries
95 first investor–company relationships out of 107 participations. The other 12 were later rounds together.
Find backers adding companies ↗Build a syndicate beyond the city.
Of 95 recently active backers, 23 have a recorded San Francisco location and 46 are based elsewhere. Location is missing for 26. Search by market experience first, then investigate the people and their remit.
Match the whole round to your plan.
Recent Seed rounds have a median size of $2.9M, across 13 disclosed amounts. That is total company financing. An individual investor’s cheque or available capital is not disclosed here.
03 / EMERGING THEMES
Which themes are gaining share?
Follow financing activity across the company classifications represented in this market.
Latest four complete quarters: 01 Apr 2025–31 Mar 2026 · 14 market rounds, versus 12 in the preceding four quarters.
Future Of Work
+0.0 pp14 of 14 recent rounds (100.0%), versus 12 of 12 (100.0%).
Robotic Process Automation
+0.0 pp14 of 14 recent rounds (100.0%), versus 12 of 12 (100.0%).
Enterprise Software
+9.5 pp13 of 14 recent rounds (92.9%), versus 10 of 12 (83.3%).
Saas
-4.8 pp11 of 14 recent rounds (78.6%), versus 10 of 12 (83.3%).
SPIKE DETECTION
Look beyond the headline total.
Share of market roundsPrior four-quarter shareDetected spike
Scroll sideways to explore all quarters.
Q1 2026 · 2 of 2 market rounds · 2 companies · 100.0% share. No spike under the published rule.
Select a dot to inspect the exact count and baseline. The partial quarter through 22 May 2026 is shown but cannot trigger a spike.
The theme shift, year by year.
Share of all recorded Cognitive Process Automation rounds in San Francisco. Each cell also gives its theme-round count.
| Investment theme | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100.0%4 / 4 | 100.0%4 / 4 | 100.0%7 / 7 | 100.0%5 / 5 | 100.0%11 / 11 | 100.0%17 / 17 | 100.0%2 / 2 | |
| 100.0%4 / 4 | 100.0%4 / 4 | 100.0%7 / 7 | 100.0%5 / 5 | 100.0%11 / 11 | 100.0%17 / 17 | 100.0%2 / 2 | |
| 100.0%4 / 4 | 100.0%4 / 4 | 100.0%7 / 7 | 100.0%5 / 5 | 90.9%10 / 11 | 94.1%16 / 17 | 50.0%1 / 2 | |
| 75.0%3 / 4 | 100.0%4 / 4 | 100.0%7 / 7 | 100.0%5 / 5 | 81.8%9 / 11 | 76.5%13 / 17 | 100.0%2 / 2 | |
| 75.0%3 / 4 | 50.0%2 / 4 | 100.0%7 / 7 | 80.0%4 / 5 | 54.6%6 / 11 | 52.9%9 / 17 | 0.0%0 / 2 | |
| 75.0%3 / 4 | 50.0%2 / 4 | 42.9%3 / 7 | 100.0%5 / 5 | 36.4%4 / 11 | 29.4%5 / 17 | 0.0%0 / 2 | |
| 75.0%3 / 4 | 50.0%2 / 4 | 42.9%3 / 7 | 80.0%4 / 5 | 27.3%3 / 11 | 29.4%5 / 17 | 0.0%0 / 2 | |
| 75.0%3 / 4 | 50.0%2 / 4 | 28.6%2 / 7 | 60.0%3 / 5 | 27.3%3 / 11 | 5.9%1 / 17 | 0.0%0 / 2 |
*2026 is partial. Company themes use the tags available in this dataset, applied to historical rounds; they do not date when a business adopted a technology. Themes overlap, so shares do not add to 100%. Each company round is counted once within a theme. These charts cover investors from all locations; the shortlist keeps its own location filter.
How a spike is detected
A complete quarter is flagged when its theme share is at least 1.75× the share across the preceding four quarters and at least 5 percentage points higher. It must contain at least 3 theme rounds across 3 companies, at least 10 market rounds, and at least 3 theme rounds in the baseline. All four baseline quarters must have market observations. A zero baseline, missing observations or partial quarter cannot produce a flag.
This is a transparent screening rule, not a statistical significance test or a forecast. A higher share can accompany fewer rounds when the wider market contracts; the counts beside the chart make that distinction visible.
04 / THE DEPTH MAP
One appearance, or a pattern?
183 of 197 backers with dated histories appear in just one company. Select a cell to explore the directory.
| Portfolio breadth here | 1 company | 2 companies | 3–5 | 6–10 | 11+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firms & institutions | |||||
| Individual angels |
Circle area increases with backer count. The shortlist includes backers with 2 or more companies in this market, plus other backers active in the latest 24 months. In the 1-company cell, only recently active backers are available to explore. The shortlist’s investor-location filter also applies; select all locations to broaden the results. 1 backers have only undated entries.
05 / ROUND DESIGN
Different stages. Different capital.
Recent equity rounds · 24-month window.
Amounts are in USD.
StageDistinct roundsMedian / middle half
Seed
16
$2.9M$500K–$6.5M13 disclosed
Series A
4
$18M$12M–$27M4 disclosed · small sample
Series B
3
$75M$58M–$78M3 disclosed · small sample
Series C
1
$200M$200M–$200M1 disclosed · small sample
06 / FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The most recent recorded rounds.
Distinct company rounds.
Named backers are shown lead-first.
Provider of digital workforce solutions for back-office operations and automation
$15M total equity round2 named backers
Cervin Ventures · Streamlined Ventures
Provider of AI employees that automate tasks and connect data
$500K total equity round1 named backer
Y Combinator
Developer of artificial intelligence agents for automated information technology workflows
$75M total equity round6 named backers
Sequoia · EVANTIC · First Round Capital · General Catalyst · Meritech · +1 more
Developer of an AI layer enabling plain language commands for bizapps
Undisclosed total equity round1 named backer
Appficiency
Provider of AI-powered agents for company-specific data and workflows
$80M total equity round4 named backers
Benchmark · Elad Gil · Lux Capital · Sequoia Capital
Developer of artificial intelligence agents for automated information technology workflows
$47M total equity round13 named backers
Redpoint Ventures · Alex Clayton · Bessemer Venture Partners · BoxGroup · Chemistry VC · +8 more
07 / READING THE ATLAS
What these patterns can tell you.
The market boundary
Recorded equity rounds for companies tagged Cognitive Process Automation and located in San Francisco. Investor headquarters may be elsewhere. Company sector and location reflect the available company records, not necessarily the location or sector at the investment date.
The time boundary
Data coverage ends 22 May 2026. The latest market round is 27 Jan 2026. There are 4 undated participations, excluded from timing metrics. Activity after the cutoff is unknown.
The relationship boundary
“New” is the first dated relationship between a backer and a company in this market. “Backed again” requires a later dated round together. A first observed entry may follow an earlier unrecorded investment.
The financing boundary
Amounts describe entire equity rounds, not personal cheques, fund capacity or returns. Medians exclude missing and non-positive amounts; the middle half spans the 25th–75th percentiles. A recorded investment does not establish current availability.
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worth a closer look.
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Explore Fliar Prism ↗Start with the company or question you want to understand.Calculated 14 Sep 2026 · 101 investor histories to explore