Two former Google employees have successfully set up an $11.3 million fund to support early-stage AI startups. BAG Ventures, co-founded by Bontia Stewart, a former Google vice president, and Jackson Georges Jr., a past partner at CapitalG, aims to create quick pathways for founders with limited resources. They believe the time for enterprise AI experimentation is winding down, asserting that customers will invest only in products that demonstrate real value.
BAG Ventures has already committed funds to 10 companies, including the software firm SXD, the AI travel service BizTrip, and the reasoning platform Nomadic. The firm targets startups across various sectors, such as AI infrastructure, compute, physical and edge AI, security, governance, and vertical SaaS. Investment amounts range from $100,000 to $500,000, with plans to allocate the remaining capital over the next two years.
Stewart spent 17 years at Google, nearly a decade of which was as a vice president. She also served on the board of Gradient Ventures, Google’s early-stage AI fund, and is a limited partner in the Female Founders Fund and the Operator Collective. Alongside Georges, she co-led the BAG Collective, an angel syndicate with over 450 members.
Georges brings experience from GE Healthcare and his tenure at Google, where he met Stewart. He later joined CapitalG, Alphabet’s growth fund, and both were part of the inaugural cohort of the Black Venture Institute at Berkeley. Their distinctive advantage comes from the access they provide: “Founders needed inside access to the organizations they wanted to sell into,” Georges stated. He mentioned that many high-level operators are keen to assist early founders but often lack the means to do so.
BAG Ventures not only provides capital but also facilitates warm introductions to potential clients and delivers practical go-to-market guidance. The firm has more than 150 limited partners, including Google and professionals from Nvidia, Amazon, and Snowflake.
Georges observes a transformation in how enterprises procure AI solutions. He notes that the “experimental sandbox” phase is coming to an end, emphasizing that “enterprises are dialing in heavily on the unit economics right now.” Companies are moving beyond vague, open-ended chatbots and are now looking for deterministic solutions that can seamlessly integrate into existing workflows and perform specific tasks. This trend includes automating code reviews and analyzing legal documents.
Looking ahead, Georges expects a significant shift in purchasing behavior, forecasting that enterprises will stop buying per-user seats for SaaS tools. “We’ll be buying completed jobs and outcomes driven by multi-agent workflows,” he remarked, highlighting the need for teams with established working relationships, a minimum viable product, and a clear monetization plan within 24 hours.
The firm is particularly interested in startups that engage deeply with enterprise workflows and capture proprietary data that is difficult to replicate. Georges warns that “not even a technically sound product from a startup is enough to succeed in the long run,” especially with larger AI labs entering the space. He argues that if a startup merely offers a superficial layer over a frontier model API, its survival is at risk. “We want companies that own the intent layer and have the customer lock-in to survive the next big model release,” he added.
Moreover, BAG Ventures is concentrating on startups that cater to highly regulated industries, where specialized data privacy considerations are essential. This includes securing internal data flows, establishing acceptable-use policies, and deploying continuous automated red-teaming. Georges pointed out that this approach is already proving successful with their portfolio company, Defendremate.
Georges emphasized the importance of startups that not only develop AI solutions but also integrate deeply with enterprise workflows. As companies increasingly prioritize deterministic solutions that automate specific tasks, those that focus on capturing proprietary data and maintaining customer lock-in will likely navigate the evolving landscape more successfully. The shift away from purchasing per-user seats to buying completed jobs underscores the need for startups to demonstrate clear value and established relationships within their target markets.
