First a Founder, then a CEO, now @BainCapVC focused on AI seed & Series A. Helping out at @cognition, @DecagonAI, @evenuplaw, @krea_ai, @simile_ai & others.
SF Bay Area
Joined June 2008
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Listening to @ScottWu46, and his unique blend of EQ & IQ, you see how @cognition can bridge the different worlds of research lab & enterprise transformation company
“Remember Devin? It works now.”
After the internet said it wouldn’t, Cognition put that on a billboard.
The @cognition story with @ScottWu46 and @aaref.
No one wants to depend on a rival for critical inputs. @solcoatech helps to solve that problem
I'm honored to share that @BainCapVC is leading @solcoatech's $75M seed financing.
One year ago they were proving chemistry on a demo line, they've since scaled to a full production facility in Alameda, and today announce Solcoa One, their 500-tonne rare earth metallization plant in Nevada.
When seeds (or Series As) fully bloom, it's amazing to see
Crusoe has raised $3.9 billion in Series F, co-led by @Atreidesmgmt, @MubadalaCapital, and @valor Equity Partners.
This capital will help us grow across our AI factories, from large-scale campuses to modular Crusoe Spark units, and continue to innovate with Crusoe Cloud.
The full chain, from electrons to tokens: crusoe.ai/resources/newsroom…
The gong surprised me...and I'm glad they like suits. These guys were fun to chat with
BCV Partner @aaref breaks down the difference between a pre-AGI and post-AGI world:
"The difference between pre- and post-AGI is, we go from being intelligence poor to intelligence abundant."
"With pre-AGI we saw agents do amazing things like writing code, solving customer support tickets, etc."
"With post-AGI there's going to be new capabilities that humans can't even imagine."
"We'll see robots doing the cleaning, we'll have new drugs that AI will find to cure cancer or other diseases, we'll have simulation platforms so that people can make better decisions and be better at interacting with each other."
If you're curious about Bain Capital, this is worth reading
In 1987, when Bain Capital was ≈3 years old, the early partners came up with the briefest possible mantra for running the firm: make money, have fun, live with integrity.
Excited that BCV has another $1.6B to do that. @kevinzhang , @ChristinaPhili5 , and I wrote a bit about those principles and the role that capital should play in a technological revolution:
baincapitalventures.com/insi…
Aaref Hilaly retweeted
Congrats @ajay_bcv !! We’ve been so lucky to work with the BCV team over the past year. Truly one of the most founder first VCs in the game. Excited that so many more founders will get the same experience with this new fund!
Excited for the next chapter of @BainCapVC with our newest fund, Fund XI! xitter.cf/BainCapVC/status/21002…
Aaref Hilaly retweeted
@BainCapVC backed me during the Jet.com chapter and has remained a trusted partner as we build @wonder. That history means a lot, and I’m excited to see the team mark another major milestone with its 11th fund. Congratulations to everyone at BCV.
Aaref Hilaly retweeted
Working with @merritthummer, @Abby__Meyers and the whole @baincapVC team has been great. Congratulation on raising a new fund!
Aaref Hilaly retweeted
Huge congrats to @aaref and the BCV team -- incredible folks to have on your side!
Aaref Hilaly retweeted
There’s what you build, and who you build it with.
@BainCapVC was far more than an investor in MaintainX—helping us recruit leaders, win customers, and ultimately reach our next chapter with Autodesk.
Congrats @MerrittHummer, @AbbyMeyers and the entire @BainCapVC team on Fund XI. Founders win with great partners.
Aaref Hilaly retweeted
So proud of my friends @ajay_bcv @aaref @EnriqueSalem and many others @BainCapVC. The way they continue to evolve BCV as the market evolves is incredible!
Excited for the next chapter of @BainCapVC with our newest fund, Fund XI! xitter.cf/BainCapVC/status/21002…
Aaref Hilaly retweeted
Not one to usually repost a fund announcement but BCV and in particular Enrique Salem has been the best partner we could have wished for at Poolside. There are few people I would blindly trust, Enrique is one of them.
There's a moment when a company accelerates beyond already-high expectations. Everything clicks. That was true for OpenAI with ChatGPT, for Anthropic with Claude Code -- and now for @cognition with Devin.
People focus on valuation and financings, so will tune-in today for Cognition's announcement that it raised $2 billion at $48 billon post. But the signs are everywhere. It's in the product, which has my teenage son using Devin for his coding projects. It's in the energy at the Cog offices at 7pm, when people break for dinner, the hush that follows, and then the hubbub again as people get hungry around 11pm. It's in the customers blowing past their usage limits and still being happy to spend more. It's in the journey of a group that started more as a research lab which evolved to also become an enterprise transformation company, to realize its ambitions of massive impact.
That's the magic of Cognition that I've felt working with @ScottWu46 , @russelljkaplan, @emilyycohen, @jacobtpl, @bryceehunt, @ido_pesok, and many others -- along with our partner @RonMiasnik, who's spending a period full-time at Cog as Head of Business Development. It's why, just as when we first invested, it still feels very, very early days.
