Adrianna Alterman
Principal
Salesforce Ventures
Principal investing in energy, climate tech, and workforce resilience.
Bio
Professional summary
Emily Zhao is a Managing Director at Salesforce Ventures focused on AI infrastructure, robotics, developer tooling, and cybersecurity. She joined Salesforce Ventures in 2022 and helped launch its $1B Generative AI fund, leading or supporting investments including Anthropic, Hugging Face, Together AI, fal, Runway, and Cohere. Before Salesforce Ventures, she invested at Avenir Growth Capital in vertical SaaS, health tech, and application software, and earlier worked in Blackstone's Private Equity group and JPMorgan's Investment Banking group. She holds a BA in Economics and Art History from Dartmouth.
Investment focus
Stage, sector, and overall fit
Stage
growthventure growthall stages
Sector
AI infrastructureroboticsdeveloper toolingcybersecurityvertical SaaShealth techapplication software
Thesis
AI infrastructureRoboticsDeveloper toolingCybersecurity
Notable companies
Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed
AnthropicHugging FaceTogether AIfalRunwayCohereGoodfireFundamentalDyna RoboticsProtect AIChainguard
How to approach
Framing and angles for outreach
Pitch framing
Lead with technical differentiation in AI infrastructure, robotics, developer tooling, or AI security, and connect it to enterprise-grade adoption or platform defensibility.
Personalization hooks
- 1Helped launch Salesforce Ventures' $1B Generative AI fund.
- 2Has prior venture-growth experience across vertical SaaS, health tech, and application software.
Recent signals
What the partner has said or done recently
Co-authored official Salesforce Ventures posts on Anthropic, Goodfire, Fundamental, Dyna Robotics, Cohere, fal, Protect AI, Chainguard, Together AI, Hugging Face, and robotics.
Public writing indicates active interest in AI infrastructure, AI interpretability, robotics, and structured data.
Background
Career, education, and skills
Career history
- Salesforce VenturesManaging Director2022 – Present
- Avenir Growth CapitalInvestorPrior to 2022
- BlackstoneAssociate, Private EquityPrior
- JPMorganAnalyst, Investment BankingPrior
Education
- Dartmouth CollegeB.A. Economics and Art History
Skills
AI InfrastructureRobotics InvestingDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity InvestingGenerative AIVenture CapitalPrivate Equity
Other partners at Salesforce Ventures
12 more profiles
Alex Quie
Principal
Salesforce Ventures
Principal at Salesforce Ventures in London investing across all stages and sectors in EMEA cloud software companies.
Claudine Emeott
Partner
Salesforce Ventures
Salesforce Ventures Partner investing in mission-driven enterprise tech and impact companies.
Dom Pusateri
Investor
Salesforce Ventures
Investor focused on early-stage AI and developer-experience startups.
Enki Toto
Principal
Salesforce Ventures
Principal investing in impact-focused edtech, fintech, and climate technology.
Kartik Gupta
Principal
Salesforce Ventures
Principal investing in enterprise software across Europe, Israel, India, and the US.
Katie Schwartz Thiry
Managing Director
Salesforce Ventures
Managing Director at Salesforce Ventures focused on SaaS, healthcare, and fintech companies.
Katie Thiry
Managing Director
Salesforce Ventures
Managing Director investing in SaaS, healthcare, and fintech at Salesforce Ventures.
Ken Asada
Partner & Head of Japan
Salesforce Ventures
Partner and Head of Japan at Salesforce Ventures, focused on investments in Japan and Korea.
Kevin Wu
Investor
Salesforce Ventures
Investor focused on cybersecurity, defense technology, and enterprise software.
Laura Rowson
Principal
Salesforce Ventures
Principal investing in application software, vertical SaaS, and data infrastructure.
Nathan Ho
Investor
Salesforce Ventures
Salesforce Ventures investor focused on AI infrastructure and vertical applications.