September 10, 2025
Bonfire Ventures III is written: 32 B2B software companies, $168M at work, and reserves set aside to keep our founders growing.
With Sante, our final Fund III investment, we closed out a three-year journey (2022–2025) that stretched across more than 20 industries and one of the most turbulent eras in venture, from hyper-valuations to the rapid rise of AI.
Through it all, we stayed true to our lane in B2B software while leaning into AI-native companies and our belief that AI is reshaping the future.
Now, as we begin investing out of our next $245M Fund IV, we’re pausing to look back at what we invested in, why, and what we learned alongside the founders who made Fund III a likely long-term winner.
More than half of Fund III’s portfolio companies are AI native. Bonfire Partner and former Salesforce EVP Brett Queener believes that "AI has fundamentally altered B2B software market dynamics.
The traditional trajectory of pre-seed → customers → seed → market fit has now been replaced by a much faster-moving environment.”
Today, products can be built at lightning speed. Founders are forced to make rapid decisions, while competitors emerge and evolve almost overnight. In this environment, technical skill alone isn’t enough. Winning founders pair strong instincts with adaptability and an unrelenting focus on revenue.
That’s why Bonfire has leaned harder into backing founders who thrive in this pace of change. As Brett describes it, the best founders operate like “high-performance CPUs”—they process information quickly, adjust continuously, and act decisively. For us, those qualities are the true edge in an AI-first world.
A standout example is Supio, a legal AI platform that transforms case documents into actionable insights for personal injury firms. Founders Jerry Zhou and Kyle Lam, immersed themselves in thousands of case studies to master case law, and then built Supio to scale that expertise with technology. When generative AI tools like ChatGPT emerged, they rapidly evolved their document-extraction engine into a platform purpose-built for the legal industry. The results speak for themselves: in less than two years, Supio has grown 15x, reached $15M ARR in just 19 months, and secured a $60M Series B to accelerate adoption across plaintiff law. Today, Supio isn’t just riding the AI wave—it’s defining what best-in-class looks like for legal teams using data to drive case outcomes.
The venture landscape has shifted. AI at the application layer is no longer a differentiator—it’s table stakes. Mark Mullen, co-founder of Bonfire shares,
“AI will soon be as expected as Cloud or Mobile capabilities have become. In this new environment, technology alone no longer sets companies apart.”
That’s why we’ve sharpened our lens on founder excellence. With technical differentiation increasingly commoditized, the real edge comes from unique go-to-market strategies, deep customer insight, and flawless execution. Vice President Dominique Yadegar explains: “In a world where AI is accelerating product development and simultaneously commoditizing software, go-to-market has become the real differentiator. The strongest founders define their target customer with precision, craft authentic messaging that resonates, and execute sales with speed, adaptability, and discipline.”
Ultimately, Bonfire believes that the founders who will win will not just be brilliant technologists. They will be communicators, strategists, and operators who can turn vision into velocity.
Another constant in our strategy is a focus on vertical software solutions—a consistent approach that’s delivered results across multiple funds. Jim Andelman, co-founder of Bonfire, notes, “Vertical applications are especially well-positioned for GenAI innovation. They can expand addressable markets with higher price points and contract values while delivering clear, direct revenue impact.”
Legacy incumbents, weighed down by outdated systems, often can’t adapt to rapid technological change. That creates openings for vertical SaaS startups to step in and take the lead. Jim looks for full-stack solutions that don’t just serve as systems of record but can also layer on the best systems of action.
Looking ahead to Fund IV, we’ll dive deeper into vertical industries to find the market leaders of the future. Priority sectors include the convergence of e-commerce and fintech, construction, healthcare, insurance, industrial markets, and other legacy categories ready for reinvention.
Bonfire’s impressive Fund III performance metrics reflect the firm’s ability to spot promising founders early and support them as they build fast-growing B2B software companies.
Of the 32 companies in Bonfire’s Fund III portfolio, 100% remain active today. Among those backed between July 2022 and June 2023, 73% raised Series A financing within 24 months—far outpacing the industry benchmark of 15% over the same period (Carta). This performance underscores both the strength of the Fund III portfolio and Bonfire’s ability to identify and support companies built for durable growth.
ARR growth is a clear and obvious indicator of product-market fit, customer traction, and scalable business potential, making it a key signal of long-term success. Since Bonfire’s initial investment, the average ARR growth across Fund III’s active portfolio companies is an impressive 337%, far surpassing typical early-stage SaaS benchmarks, which tend to range from 100-200%. Top-performing companies by ARR growth include Topline Pro, Suite Studios, Supio, Rwazi, Mithrl, HealNow, Alvys, and ChangeEngine.
On the investment side, the fund maintained discipline at our typical “late seed” entry point with an average pre-money valuation of $16.4M and an average initial check size of $2.7M, positioning Bonfire as a lead or co-lead investor while maintaining our ownership targets. Together, these metrics reflect the firm’s ability to identify breakout potential early and support companies through critical stages of growth.
As we look ahead to Fund IV, our strategy remains simple: lead high-conviction seed rounds and go deep with a select group of founders.
While many firms expand into new stages or chase new sectors, Mullen shares that Bonfire is doubling down on what works:
“We only do one thing… and we're always trying to get better and better at that.”
In a fundraising environment that has tested many, this focus has proven to be a strength. We’ve also expanded our team to better support portfolio companies, reinforcing our belief in consistency through evolution—staying true to our mission while enhancing the ways we deliver value.
The numbers tell one story, but the real proof is in the founders. Fund III’s performance has been driven by entrepreneurs who paired vision with relentless execution, often in industries overdue for change. The following case studies highlight three such companies—Topline Pro, HealNow, and Rwazi—each tackling massive markets with AI-driven solutions, unique go-to-market strategies, and a pace of growth that reflects the resilience of Bonfire’s approach.
Bonfire first partnered with founders Nick Ornitz and Shannon Kay in 2022, when Jim Andelman and Tyler Churchill led the company’s $5M seed round. Since then, we’ve invested in two follow-on rounds, including their $12M Series A in 2023 led by Forerunner Ventures and, most recently, their $27M Series B led by Northzone.
Topline Pro serves the 2.5 million home service professionals who keep America running—landscapers, roofers, plumbers, electricians, and more. These pros don’t need another software tool; they need leverage. Topline Pro empowers them with AI-that acts like a 24/7 back office. AI can’t replace the human craft on the jobsite — but it can support the back-office tasks on their plate, from quoting and scheduling to lead response, advertising, follow-ups, review requests, and payments.
As one customer put it: “Pancho [my AI assistant] works 24/7. He makes sure I never miss a job while I’m out in the field.”
The impact is measurable:
Nick and Shannon’s vision has always been bigger than websites or marketing tools. Their done-for-you system gives skilled workers AI teammates that run on autopilot, so pros can focus on their craft.
With fresh funding from their Series B, Topline Pro is expanding its AI team, adding new product capabilities to help pros across more jobs-to-be-done, and scaling customer success to ensure every pro has a clear path to growth.
Founder takeaway: AI’s most transformative impact may not be in corner offices but in the trades—giving blue-collar entrepreneurs the leverage they’ve never had before. Check out this article to learn why Bonfire invested 3x in Topline Pro.
Led by Mark Mullen, HealNow is bringing modern technology to one of the U.S.'s most outdated, complex industries: Pharmacy. Recognizing the team’s bold vision and urgent need for innovation in this space, Bonfire Ventures led HealNow’s $5.5M seed financing in December 2022.
The company operates at the intersection of two massive shifts: rising healthcare costs and the growing demand for direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical access. As the market evolves, HealNow is building the payment infrastructure to make pharmacy distribution faster, smarter, and more accessible.
Founder and CEO Halston Prox is a prime example of the type of founder Bonfire seeks to back. Raised in a small town with firsthand exposure to gaps in healthcare access, Halston later attended a top-tier university and spent years as a pharmaceutical industry consultant. Before Bonfire invested, he had already spent four years navigating the sector’s regulatory complexity, laying the foundation for something far bigger than just a product. His deep domain expertise, relentless drive to modernize the pharmaceutical industry, and capacity to continuously absorb and apply new information make him the perfect founder-market fit.
HealNow made major progress with light funding, proving out their model and building early traction with a lean team. Today, they are one of the top performers in the Bonfire Fund III portfolio, having grown ARR by 7x over the last year alone - a testament to their execution and the strength of their value proposition.
In a space long overdue for disruption, HealNow is doing more than just modernizing. It’s redefining how pharmacy works for the next generation.
Bonfire first partnered with CEO Joseph Rutakangwa and Eric Sewankambo in September 2022, when Jennifer Richard led the company’s $4M seed round. Since then, we’ve reinvested—most recently leading Rwazi’s $12M Series A in 2024, a rare move for us at that stage but one we made with full conviction.
Rwazi is redefining the consumer intelligence space by fusing AI with deep, on-the-ground market insights. Since our initial investment, the company has grown ARR by 14x, a clear signal of both product-market fit and operational discipline.
Joseph embodies the kind of founder every investor hopes to meet: mission-driven, ambitious, and wildly effective. Despite starting with a non-technical founding team, his early traction showed rare execution. Post-seed, Bonfire supported Joseph in recruiting a world-class team:
The impact has been equally clear on the customer side:
And the metrics speak for themselves:
For Bonfire, the decision to lead Rwazi’s Series A was straightforward. We had full transparency into the business, confidence in Joseph’s vision, and conviction in the team’s ability to execute.
Today, Rwazi has all the hallmarks of a category-defining company: a world-class team, real product-market fit, and growth metrics that defy expectations. Their new AI copilot, Sena, is set to supercharge decision-making for the Fortune 500. We’re proud to double down on a team that isn’t just executing—it’s rewriting the playbook on global market data.
Founder takeaway: Vision paired with relentless execution can turn a prototype into a platform trusted by the world’s biggest brands.
