Facing a 73% decline in its stock over the past year due to anxieties that artificial intelligence might disrupt its business model, monday.com is taking proactive measures to redefine its identity. The software firm, known for its work management platform tailored for businesses, aims to distance itself from the narrative surrounding the so-called "SaaS apocalypse" by investing in emerging startups that have flourished in the AI landscape.
To facilitate this, monday.com is establishing a venture capital division, named monday Ventures, with a budget of up to $200 million for investment. This amount surpasses the total assets of numerous Israeli venture capital funds that typically concentrate on early-stage investments. Initially, monday Ventures will deploy $50 million and has already made several investments. Any future expansion of this fund beyond the initial allocation will be subject to approval by the company’s board.
The venture arm is being orchestrated by Aviel Ichai, who previously worked at the venture capital firm NEXT47. monday Ventures is focused on scouting startups that are innovating in AI, especially in sectors that complement monday's operational scope. This includes applications for enterprise AI, workflow automation, cybersecurity, and data infrastructure.
The fund intends to support startups at all stages of development, from seed funding to growth phases, offering investments ranging from $1 million to $5 million. Besides considering technology and the credentials of founding teams, monday Ventures will particularly prioritize a startup's strategic relevance to monday.com’s mission and its long-term aspirations.
In recent months, the new investment entity has successfully finalized several deals. Notably, it led the Seed funding round for Blocks.diy, a startup created by ex-monday employees Michal Lupu and Tal Haramati. This company specializes in digital workers meant to automate and enhance various business processes, thereby boosting operational efficiency.
Additionally, monday Ventures participated in the $50 million Series B round for Guidde, a startup tackling a pressing issue for many businesses: the quick incorporation of AI tools and new software. Guidde's platform generates video guides automatically and seamlessly integrates into enterprise systems to offer contextual assistance without disrupting user workflows.
Moreover, monday.com also invested in NanoCo’s $12 million Seed round, supporting NanoCo’s creation of NanoClaw, an open-source platform designed to facilitate secure AI agents in commonly used workplace tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
"About six months ago, we undertook the most transformative shift in monday’s history by redefining our vision from a work management platform to an AI-agent platform capable of executing tasks," stated Roy Mann, co-founder and co-CEO of monday.com.
