BGV

BGV is launching "𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗿", a new event series designed to help European founders scale globally and navigate the US ecosystem. For our first edition, we’re co-organizing together with Elaia an intimate founders-only breakfast next week in Paris on “𝗔 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗨𝗦 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘁.” The US accounts for ~60% of global tech acquisitions. Yet for most European founders, getting on the radar of US buyers and navigating an acquisition process remains a black box. Our guest: Graham Steel, former CEO & co-founder of Cryptosense, who sold his company to SandboxAQ, the AI & quantum spin-off from Google (now valued at $5B+). We'll get into the questions that matter: → How do you get on the radar of US buyers? → What makes your company attractive to them? → How do you navigate negotiations, valuation and the culture? → What really happens after the deal closes? If you are interested in joining the discussion, please register here (spaces are limited, founders only)  🔗https://luma.com/i8a4oybi Sarah Benhamou | Etienne A. | Ella Zaoui #Enterprise50 #GlobalInnovation #BGV

As AI becomes increasingly capable of performing work rather than simply assisting users, one question is becoming more important than ever: How should AI products be priced? A new BGV Insights article by our Head of Platform, Emmanuel Benhamou, explores how AI companies are moving beyond traditional per-seat pricing and adopting models based on usage, outcomes, and the value they deliver to customers. As AI takes on more work, companies are rethinking not only how they charge for their products, but what customers are actually paying for. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gCrnT3NX EAIGG: Ethical AI Governance Group #Enterprise50 #BGV #AINative

The Coming GenAI Pricing Shock Enterprises are rapidly embracing Generative AI, encouraged by seemingly predictable per-user subscription pricing that allows employees to experiment freely with AI assistants, coding tools, and workflow automation. However, many organizations are underestimating a major shift that is already underway: the transition from seat-based pricing to usage-based pricing driven by token consumption, model inference, and compute-intensive AI workloads. As GenAI moves from experimentation to production, enterprises may experience AI costs that are 10 to 20 times higher than current budgets anticipate. This mirrors what happened during the early cloud computing era. Initially, cloud adoption appeared cost-effective and straightforward. But as workloads expanded, organizations were surprised by rapidly escalating consumption-based bills, giving rise to the discipline of Cloud FinOps to manage and optimize cloud spending. GenAI is poised to follow the same path. Unlike traditional software licenses, AI costs increase with usage. Every prompt, response, agent workflow, and reasoning task consumes tokens and compute resources. As organizations deploy AI across customer service, software development, sales, marketing, and business operations, consumption can grow exponentially. More advanced capabilities—including reasoning models, autonomous agents, and multimodal AI—further increase costs. The warning signs are already visible among technology leaders themselves. A new term, "tokenmaxxing," has emerged to describe excessive AI usage that prioritizes consumption over business value. Amazon reportedly discontinued an internal AI usage leaderboard after employees focused on maximizing token usage rather than outcomes. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has similarly emphasized the importance of using the appropriate model for each task instead of defaulting to the most expensive AI models. These examples demonstrate that even the companies building the AI economy recognize the risks of uncontrolled consumption. In response, a new category of AI FinOps platforms is emerging. Companies such as Pay-i help enterprises track token usage, allocate costs across teams and applications, monitor model utilization, and measure AI return on investment. Much as CloudHealth and Apptio became essential tools for managing cloud spending, AI FinOps solutions are becoming critical infrastructure for governing AI at scale. The lesson is clear: enterprises that treat GenAI as a consumption-based resource and establish governance, visibility, and cost controls early will be best positioned to capture its value. Those that do not may soon face the next great enterprise technology budget shock. David Tepper Anikka Villegas BGV EAIGG: Ethical AI Governance Group Edward McGowan Anthony Folger Gregor van Issum Michelle Turner Carl M. Rhodes

Congratulations to our Principal, Ekaterina (Katya) Evchenko, on joining the Kauffman Fellows of K31! Chosen from a highly competitive pool of candidates, Katya is one of just 55 Fellows selected globally to participate in the two-year Kauffman Fellows program, joining a network of 1000+ of the venture industry's most connected and influential leaders. We're extremely proud to see Katya recognized among this exceptional group committed to shaping the future of innovation. Congratulations, Katya! We're excited for your journey in the years ahead and the impact you'll make! #Enterprise50 #BGV #KauffmanFellows

Join us on July 10th for our Bastille Day Celebration Cocktail in partnership with FACC California SF-LA | French American Chamber of Commerce, California and hosted by our friends at BGV in their beautiful courtyard in Menlo Park. 👉 https://lnkd.in/eEJpmchY Come and mingle with fellow entrepreneurs, executives, investors and French enthusiasts! It's the perfect occasion to reconnect or forge new relationships around delicious canapes and delightful wine. We look forward to seeing you and celebrating Bastille Day together!

A recent customer success story from BGV porfolio company EverestLabs.AI highlights the value of applying AI to real world industrial challenges. UNIVERSAL WASTE SYSTEMS, INC. reported that EverestLabs' robotic sorting technology helped increase PET recovery by 10–15%, improve bale quality, and significantly reduce contamination at its Santa Fe Springs material recovery facility. The company also cited EverestLabs' collaborative deployment process and strong customer support as key factors in the partnership's success. As the recycling industry faces increasing pressure to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and maximize resource recovery, intelligent automation is becoming an important part of the solution. Congratulations to the EverestLabs team on delivering measurable results for customers and helping advance the future of recycling operations. 👏 Click here to read more 👇 https://lnkd.in/g37Ysi22 R. Paul Singh, Eric Buatois #Enterprise50 #BGV

🔥🌲 Wildfires continue to pose enormous risks to utilities and the communities they serve. BGV portfolio company AiDASH is helping utilities take a more proactive approach to vegetation management and wildfire prevention by combining AI with satellite intelligence at network scale. In a recent AiDASH Evolve 2026 session, Josh Winer of Vantor, AiDASH's long-time satellite imagery partner, highlighted how AiDASH's utility specific AI models can identify vegetation species, assess vegetative health, and prioritize areas of highest risk to prevent wildfires. This is a powerful example of AI being applied to a real world issue that affects millions of people. Beyond improving operational efficiency, technologies like these have the potential to help protect communities, strengthen infrastructure resilience, and reduce the risk of devastating wildfire events. https://lnkd.in/gz9NxZAM Abhishek Vinod S.

BGV Founder and General Partner, Eric Benhamou will be speaking at Foley's upcoming event, "Unlocking Liquidity: Secondary Markets & Alternative Exit Strategies," on June 9, 2026. As private companies remain private longer and liquidity timelines continue to evolve, secondary markets are playing an increasingly important role for founders, employees, and investors. This intimate discussion will explore transaction structures, valuation dynamics, liquidity pathways, portfolio management strategies, and the regulatory considerations shaping today's private capital landscape. At BGV, we've seen firsthand how thoughtful secondary transactions can help align the interests of existing investors as companies scale through extended private-market lifecycles. Eric will be joined by: • Ira Simkhovitch, Goldman Sachs • Greg Back, CatchLight Capital Partners • Barrett Cohn, Scenic Management • Louis Lehot, Foley & Lardner LLP • Kelly Boyd, Foley & Lardner LLP Looking forward to an engaging conversation with leaders across venture capital, private markets, and legal advisory on the evolving role of secondary transactions and alternative exit strategies. #Enterprise50 #VentureCapital #BGV

‼️ As enterprises become more connected to vendors, partners, contractors, and AI-powered systems, understanding risk across the broader ecosystem is becoming increasingly important. BGV portfolio company Constella Intelligence recently shared insights on how identity risks can arise through vendors, partners, and other third parties. It's a good reminder that managing cyber risk requires looking beyond your own environment and understanding exposures across third-party relationships. Worth a read for security leaders and anyone following the evolving cyber risk landscape 👇 https://lnkd.in/gipRvdwp Andres Andreu #EnterpriseAI #CyberSecurity #BGV #Enterprise50