Where does Cathy Gao work?

Cathy Gao is Partner at Sapphire Ventures and Board director at EliseAI and Board director at Jeeva AI.

What check size does Cathy Gao write?

Cathy Gao typically writes checks of $10M – $100M.

What boards does Cathy Gao sit on?

Cathy Gao holds tracked board seats at Blue J, EliseAI, EliseAI, Jeeva AI, Jeeva AI, Medable, Safe graph, Sword Health.

Where did Cathy Gao go to school?

Cathy Gao studied at The Wharton School (Bachelor's degree, concentration in Finance); University of Pennsylvania.

What awards has Cathy Gao received?

Cathy Gao graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School.

Cathy Gao

InvestorFounder

Partner at Sapphire Ventures · Board director at EliseAI · Board director at Jeeva AI

San Francisco, California

Writes $10M – $100M checks · typically $25M

About

Cathy Gao is a Partner at Sapphire Ventures investing in B2B AI and software, and serves on the boards of EliseAI, Blue J, Jeeva AI, Sword Health, and Medable. Before Sapphire she invested at AXA Venture Partners and began her career at TA Associates and Blackstone, and studied economics and history at Wharton.

Likely email· guessed from name + firm domain, not firm-published

c•••@sapphireventures.comreveal100% confident

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Beyond investing

Education: Studied at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (B.S., Economics with a Minor in History)
Awards: Cathy Gao graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School.
Hobbies: Cathy Gao is an avid reader of narrative history and literary fiction, favoring authors like Erik Larson and Ursula K. Le Guin. Cathy Gao enjoys playing beach volleyball.
Family: Cathy Gao is the daughter of a software engineer and a small business owner. Cathy Gao lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two children.

From Cathy's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Board director at EliseAI

Intro paths

→

In turn, Cathy can intro founders to EliseAI's investors below.

EliseAI's investors · 12

Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks · since 2025 Bessemer Venture PartnersRedwood City · $5M – $100M checks · since 2025 Founders Circle CapitalSan Francisco Glade Brook Capital PartnersGreenwich Golden SeedsFlushing · $250K – $2M checks Gray Line PartnersSammamish Ground Up VenturesNew York · $500K – $1.5M checks JLL SparkSan Francisco JLL Spark Global VenturesSan Francisco Navitas CapitalCulver City · $100K – $5M checks Point72 VenturesNew York · $1M – $75M checks · since 2024 Sapphire VenturesMenlo Park · $5M – $20M checks · since 2025

Co-founders at EliseAI

Minna SongCo-founder and CEO

Stoyan StoyanovExecutive Officer, Director

Board director at Jeeva AI

Intro paths

→

In turn, Cathy can intro founders to Jeeva AI's investors below.

Jeeva AI's investors · 7

Alt CapitalSan Francisco · $1M – $10M checks Bonfire VenturesLos Angeles · $2M – $4M checks · since 2025 GTMfundScottsdale · $500K – $1.5M checks JLL SparkSan Francisco · since 2025 JLL Spark Global VenturesSan Francisco Sapphire VenturesMenlo Park · $5M – $20M checks · since 2025 TechstarsBoulder · $220K checks

Co-founders at Jeeva AI

Gaurav BhattacharyaExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter

Experience

Sapphire VenturesPartnercurrent2019 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
EliseAIBoard Membercurrent2024 — present
Blue JBoard Membercurrent2025 — present
Sword HealthBoard Observercurrent2021 — present
Medable, IncBoard Observercurrent2020 — present
GemBoard Observercurrent2021 — present
CaptivateIQInvestorcurrent2022 — present
MoveworksInvestor2019 — 2025
AXA Venture Partners (AVP)Investor2017 — 2019San Francisco Bay Area
GustoFinance, Strategy & Product2015 — 2017San Francisco
TA AssociatesAssociate2012 — 2015Boston
BlackstoneAnalyst2010 — 2012New York

Education

The Wharton SchoolBachelor's degree, concentration in Finance
University of Pennsylvania

Skills & more

StrategyLeadershipInvestmentsGrowth CapitalMergers & AcquisitionsFinancial AnalysisM&A experienceBusiness StrategyMergersEntrepreneurshipAccountingBusiness Services

+10 more

LBOValuationFinancial ModelingPrivate EquityCorporate DevelopmentFinanceCorporate FinanceStart-upsDue DiligenceMergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

Languages Chinese - Mandarin

From Cathy's professional profile.

Deals · 3

EliseAIBoard seat

via Sapphire Ventures · filed Aug 2025 · $210M raise

Jeeva AIBoard seat

via Sapphire Ventures · filed Apr 2025 · $8.4M raise

Safe graphBoard seat

via Sapphire Ventures · filed Mar 2021 · $44.7M raise

Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters.

Other disclosed investments

Board seats

Blue J MedableSword Health

Sources: the firm's website · SEC Form D filings.

Colleagues at Sapphire Ventures

Abigail Johnson

Partner, Chief Operating Officer at Sapphire Ventures

Adam Liu

Vice President at Sapphire Ventures

Aditya Reddy

Vice President at Sapphire Ventures

Adrian Kania

Senior Associate at Sapphire Ventures

Alex Lehman

Vice President at Sapphire Ventures

Allison Lee

Investor at Sapphire Ventures

Anders Ranum

Partner at Sapphire Ventures

Andrea Scholz

Senior Executive Assistant at Sapphire Ventures

Network8

Brian FeinsteinScout

Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners

Sameer DholakiaScout

Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners

Stanley OnyimbaScout

Vice President at Sapphire Ventures

Abigail Johnson

Partner, Chief Operating Officer at Sapphire Ventures

Adrian Kania

Senior Associate at Sapphire Ventures

Alex Lehman

Vice President at Sapphire Ventures

Anders Ranum

Partner at Sapphire Ventures

Annalise Dragic

Principal at Sapphire Ventures

Investors connected to Cathy in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Cathy Gao?: Cathy Gao is a Partner at Sapphire Ventures investing in B2B AI and software, and serves on the boards of EliseAI, Blue J, Jeeva AI, Sword Health, and Medable. Before Sapphire she invested at AXA Venture Partners and began her career at TA Associates and Blackstone, and studied economics and history at Wharton.
Where does Cathy Gao work?: Cathy Gao is Partner at Sapphire Ventures and Board director at EliseAI and Board director at Jeeva AI.
What does Cathy Gao invest in?: Cathy Gao invests in AI & Machine Learning, Enterprise Software, SaaS.
What check size does Cathy Gao write?: Cathy Gao typically writes checks of $10M – $100M.
What boards does Cathy Gao sit on?: Cathy Gao holds tracked board seats at Blue J, EliseAI, EliseAI, Jeeva AI, Jeeva AI, Medable, Safe graph, Sword Health.
Where did Cathy Gao go to school?: Cathy Gao studied at The Wharton School (Bachelor's degree, concentration in Finance); University of Pennsylvania.
What awards has Cathy Gao received?: Cathy Gao graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School.