PitchBook and Madrona to Talk AI and Capital Concentration at Seattle Tech Week

Key Terms

ipo financial

An initial public offering (IPO) is the process by which a private company sells its shares to the public for the first time, making its ownership available on the stock market. This allows the company to raise money from a wide range of investors to fund growth or other goals. For investors, an IPO offers a chance to buy into a company early in its public journey, potentially benefiting if the company grows in value.

unicorns financial

Unicorns are privately held startup companies that have reached a market value of at least $1 billion, a rare milestone that signals fast growth and strong investor interest. For investors, they matter because they can offer outsized returns if they succeed—like finding a rare prize horse—but they also carry higher risk, influence private market pricing, and often shape IPO and venture capital activity.

application layer technical

The application layer is the top level of a software or network stack where end-user programs and services interact with each other and with the network, using protocols like HTTP, SMTP or application APIs. Think of it as the storefront and cash register of a digital system: it shapes the user experience, determines how services connect and share data, and therefore affects reliability, security, performance and integration — factors investors watch when assessing technology risks and costs.

saas technical

SaaS, or Software as a Service, is a way of delivering computer programs over the internet, allowing users to access and use them through a web browser without needing to install or maintain the software themselves. For investors, it highlights a business model where companies generate recurring revenue by providing ongoing access to their software, often leading to predictable income and growth potential.

See more from StockTitan in Google Search and AI answers. Adds StockTitan as a preferred source · opens Google

Add on Google Not now

Bringing the Founded & Funded podcast live for a data-driven look at what's waiting to go public

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PitchBook, the leading private capital market intelligence platform, today announced it will co-host a live recording of Madrona’s Founded & Funded podcast during the fourth annual Seattle Tech Week. The conversation will feature PitchBook Executive Vice President of Research & Market Intelligence Nizar Tarhuni and Madrona Partner Sabrina Albert. The event brings together two homegrown Seattle institutions, underscoring the region's continued momentum in tech and venture capital.

The timing is notable as funding concentration is reshaping the AI landscape fast – three companies alone accounted for roughly two-thirds of all AI venture funding in the first quarter of 2026, while the private market now holds a record 945 US unicorns worth a combined $5.3 trillion.

Against that backdrop, the AI narrative has shifted quickly over the past two years – from early doubts about SaaS, to soaring AI valuations, to growing scrutiny over the durability of the application layer. Tarhuni and Albert will dig into what the data actually shows: which companies have real staying power, what's driving the concentration of capital at the top of the market, and what it means for an IPO market that remains bifurcated between a handful of mega-listings and a private market still waiting for its next price signal.

The live recording will be followed by an audience Q&A and networking reception.

Founded & Funded Live: Seattle Tech Week: Learn more and register here.

• Date: Tuesday, July 28 | 3:00 – 6:00 PM
• Location: PitchBook’s Seattle Headquarters
• Speakers:
  • Nizar Tarhuni – Executive Vice President of Research and Market Intelligence, PitchBook
    Nizar leads PitchBook's global Institutional Research and News organizations, overseeing more than 140 analysts and journalists delivering investment strategy, fund performance, and credit research alongside a daily news product for private market investors. He built PitchBook's first institutional-grade research product and led the acquisition of Leveraged Commentary & Data (LCD) from S&P. Nizar holds a bachelor's degree in economics and finance from Linfield University.
  • Sabrina Albert (Wu) – Partner, Madrona
    Sabrina invests in early-stage companies from Seed through Series C, with a focus on intelligent applications, enterprise software, and agentic systems, and supports growth and strategy across Madrona's portfolio. She co-authors the biweekly newsletter Aspiring for Intelligence, covering the future of AI in the enterprise. Sabrina holds a degree in political economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

About PitchBook, a Morningstar company

As the pulse of private capital markets, PitchBook delivers trusted, real-time data, research, and technology to help investors, dealmakers, and innovators make decisions with confidence. Its products provide comprehensive information on companies, investors, funds, deals, and people, along with tools that help professionals analyze market activity and make informed decisions. Founded in 2007, PitchBook today serves more than 100,000 clients worldwide and is recognized as the leading source of private capital market intelligence. PitchBook has grown to over 3,000 employees across offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, London, Singapore, Mumbai, and other global locations. Since 2016, PitchBook has operated as a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc.

For more information, visit www.pitchbook.com.

About Madrona

Madrona is a venture capital firm investing in visionary founders and teams across stages from pre-seed to Series C. Founded in 1995 with a Series A investment in Amazon, the firm invests across the technology landscape with a focus on Applied AI, Infrastructure, and beyond from its headquarters in Seattle and a growing office in Palo Alto, CA. Madrona was an early investor in companies such as Snowflake, UiPath, Smartsheet, Rover, Redfin, Runway, Unstructured, and Apptio.

For more information, visit www.madrona.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260723148508/en/

PR@pitchbook.com

Source: PitchBook