# Sarah Catanzaro

> Sarah Catanzaro is General Partner at Amplify Partners, a Menlo Park-based venture firm investing in technical founders building data infrastructure, machine learning tools, and enterprise software. Before venture, she mapped Somali pirate networks and built threat intelligence systems for the US Secret Service. She joined Amplify in 2017, made partner in 2020, and became General Partner in 2022. Her portfolio includes RunwayML, LangChain, Modal Labs, Hex, DatologyAI, and WarpStream. She invests pre-product, bets on problem-obsessed founders, and argues that most AI struggles trace back to bad data.

- **Role:** General Partner at Amplify Partners
- **Organizations:** Amplify Partners, Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), Qinetiq, Cyveillance, Palantir Technologies, Mattermark, Canvas Ventures
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science, Stanford University
- **Known for:** General Partner at Amplify Partners, overseeing Fund V ($700M), Early investor in RunwayML, LangChain, Modal Labs, Hex, DatologyAI, WarpStream, MotherDuck, Eppo, Multiple portfolio exits: Bayes (acquired by Airtable), Einblick (acquired by Databricks), Eppo (acquired by Datadog), WarpStream (acquired by Confluent)

## Career timeline

- **2001-2005** — Inspired by 9/11 to study terrorism and political violence at Stanford University
- **2005-2008** — Program Director at Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), applying computational linguistics and network analysis to counter-terrorism and Somali piracy
- **2008-2012** — Cyber Intelligence Analyst at Cyveillance; also worked at defense contractor Qinetiq, deployed to US Secret Service building threat intelligence platforms including protecting candidates in the 2012 presidential election
- **2012-2014** — Embedded Analyst at Palantir Technologies, observing data integration challenges across government agencies
- **2014-2016** — Head of Data at Mattermark, building data team and applying ML to startup intelligence
- **2016** — Data Partner at Canvas Ventures, sourcing and evaluating investments
- **2017** — Joined Amplify Partners as Principal; introduced by Shivon Zilis
- **2020** — Promoted to Partner at Amplify Partners
- **2022** — Promoted to General Partner at Amplify Partners
- **2024** — Led seed round for DatologyAI; announced LangChain investment at $1.25B valuation; Amplify closed Fund V at $700M

## Achievements

- General Partner at Amplify Partners, overseeing Fund V ($700M)
- Early investor in RunwayML, LangChain, Modal Labs, Hex, DatologyAI, WarpStream, MotherDuck, Eppo
- Multiple portfolio exits: Bayes (acquired by Airtable), Einblick (acquired by Databricks), Eppo (acquired by Datadog), WarpStream (acquired by Confluent)
- Built threat intelligence systems that protected US presidential candidates including Barack Obama in 2012
- Applied network analysis to map Somali pirate organizations at C4ADS
- Speaker at Strata Data Conference, PyTorch Conference 2025, apply(conf) by Tecton
- Founded a weekly practitioner-focused data newsletter in 2019
- Made three new investments, four follow-on rounds, and helped exit a company at 9-figure valuation in the same year she had her first child

## Latest updates

- **2025-03** — Spoke at PyTorch Conference 2025
- **2024-02** — Led seed round for DatologyAI, focused on data curation for better AI models
- **2024-01** — Announced LangChain investment at $1.25B valuation
- **2024-01** — Posted about Runway investment on X: 'It's good to have Runway in your portfolio'
- **2023-01** — Tweeted about year highlights: three new investments, four follow-ons, one 9-figure exit, first child

## Links

- Website: https://amplifypartners.com/team/sarah-catanzaro
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-catanzaro-9770b98
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/sarahcat21
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amplify-Partners-LLC/169636339887243

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sarah-catanzaro
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-17