DevOps investors sponsoring CI/CD and infrastructure automation in 2026

DevOps funding stayed strong in 2026. The market hit $13B across 1,000+ companies, with investors focused on automation that actually reduces deployment time. Kubernetes complexity created demand for platforms that simplify cloud operations. CI/CD tools that cut release cycles from weeks to hours got funded.

These 18 investors understand the difference between CI/CD pipelines and full software delivery platforms. They've backed companies through production outages, helped scale deployment infrastructure to handle thousands of daily releases, and know why developer productivity matters more than abstract DevOps metrics. Most generalist VCs don't get why reducing deployment time from 3 hours to 15 minutes changes everything.

Quick list

Choosing investors who understand your DevOps stack

Find investors who've backed companies that scaled past 1,000 deployments daily. That's where release automation matters—coordinating microservices, managing rollbacks, handling database migrations at scale. Seed investors who funded e-commerce platforms won't understand enterprise CI/CD requirements, so make sure you're tracking how investors engage using solid document analytics.

Experience: Look for investors who backed companies through Kubernetes adoption. Most startups hit a wall migrating from Docker Compose to production K8s. Ask their portfolio companies about support during infrastructure rewrites.

Network: CI/CD sales cycles involve convincing VPs of Engineering. You need investors who can intro you to CTOs at companies running 50+ microservices, not just other founders. Check their corporate LP relationships with tech companies.

Alignment: Kubernetes platform investors don't always understand continuous delivery use cases. CD/CI tools have different adoption patterns - bottom-up developer adoption versus top-down platform mandates. Series A investors rarely understand Series B platform economics.

Track record: Check if portfolio companies raised follow-on rounds. Dead DevOps startups usually ran out of money before large enterprise deals closed. Series A to Series B is where most infrastructure companies fail—proving enterprise value takes longer than expected. Make sure you’re updating them with a clear pitch deck that communicates progress.

Communication: Use Ellty to share your deck with trackable links. You'll see who actually opens your deployment speed metrics versus skimming the intro slides—then keep engagement high using streamlined investor updates.

Value-add: Generic “we know enterprise sales” means nothing. Ask what specific help they provided during multi-month POCs with Fortune 500 companies. You want examples of navigating procurement, not vague claims—especially when you're sending materials that need proper security.

Getting DevOps investors to respond

Research recent deals on Crunchbase or PitchBook. DevOps investors are extremely stage-specific. IRIS and Speedinvest do Series A, Insight Partners does growth stage. Don't pitch growth investors with pre-revenue traction. Show deployment frequency improvements and infrastructure cost savings—then track engagement with our document analytics.

Identify potential investors: Look for VCs who led DevOps rounds in the past 18 months, not three years ago. The market changed. AI-powered deployment tools and kubernetes security weren't priorities in 2022. Use LinkedIn to find their portfolio CTOs and ask about response times during critical production incidents.

Craft a compelling pitch: Lead with your mean time to recovery (MTTR) improvements or deployment frequency increases. Every DevOps pitch mentions CI/CD and automation. Show how your change failure rate compares to Jenkins or GitLab Actions. Include specific metrics: "reduced deployment time from 45 minutes to 8 minutes" beats "significantly faster deployments."

Share your pitch deck: Upload to Ellty and send trackable links. Monitor which pages investors spend time on - if they skip your technical architecture slides, that tells you they don't understand infrastructure complexity. Most investors spend under 3 minutes on first-pass DevOps decks.

Utilize your network: Message portfolio CTOs on LinkedIn and ask about actual technical support during infrastructure scaling. Most will be honest about whether the VC helped during Kubernetes migration versus just attending board meetings. Warm intros through technical founders convert 10x better than cold emails to partners.

Attend networking events: KubeCon, DevOps Enterprise Summit, and AWS re:Invent are where DevOps deals actually happen. Skip the small local meetups. Pay attention to which VCs are sponsoring workshops or speaking about infrastructure.

Engage on online platforms: Connect with partners on LinkedIn through portfolio CTO intros. Cold messages about DevOps rarely work. Comment thoughtfully on their posts about Kubernetes or CI/CD trends, and then share materials through secure file sharing.

Organize due diligence: Set up an Ellty data room with your infrastructure diagrams, performance benchmarks, and customer deployment metrics before they ask. It speeds up technical due diligence and shows you understand enterprise POC requirements.

Set up introductory meetings: Lead with your customer deployment frequency improvements and infrastructure cost reductions. Don't waste 20 minutes on TAM slides about the $50B DevOps market. Infrastructure investors care about proof you can reduce deployment time, not market size projections.

Why DevOps automation matters now in 2026

Developers waste 40% of their time on manual deployment tasks and infrastructure maintenance. That costs companies $1 trillion annually in lost productivity. Kubernetes adoption hit 96% in enterprises, but managing K8s requires specialized skills that take 6-12 months to hire.

DevOps market spending reached $13B in 2024, growing 20% from 2023. The shortage of DevOps engineers got worse. Companies need 4-5 DevOps specialists but wait 6+ months to hire each one. Platforms that automate deployment and infrastructure management solve this bottleneck. AI-powered automation tools can now handle tasks that required senior DevOps engineers.

18 top DevOps investors

1. IRIS

French VC backing European B2B software and infrastructure startups with technical founders.

• Recent Deals: Qovery $13M Series A (September 2025), manages €500M across funds
• LinkedIn: Anaïs Monlong
• Sector Focus: DevOps, Cloud Infrastructure, SaaS, B2B Software
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Location: Paris, France
• Website: iris.vc

2. Crane Venture Partners

UK-based early-stage investor focused on enterprise software and developer tools.

• Recent Deals: Qovery $13M Series A (September 2025)
• LinkedIn: Crane Venture Partners Team
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Software, Developer Tools, DevOps, Infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Location: London, United Kingdom
• Website: crane.vc

3. Speedinvest

European early-stage VC backing technical founders building infrastructure and dev tools.

• Recent Deals: Qovery $13M Series A (September 2025), manages €1B+ across funds
• LinkedIn: Oliver Holle
• Sector Focus: DevOps, Deep Tech, Fintech, Marketplaces, Digital Health
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, Seed, Series A
• Location: Vienna, Austria
• Website: speedinvest.com

4. Menlo Ventures

Multi-stage investor backing enterprise infrastructure and B2B software since 1976.

• Recent Deals: Harness $150M debt financing (October 2023), original Series A investor $7M (2017)
• LinkedIn: Matt Murphy
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Software, DevOps, AI Infrastructure, Cybersecurity
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth
• Location: Menlo Park, USA
• Website: menlovc.com

5. IVP (Institutional Venture Partners)

Later-stage VC focused on high-growth enterprise and infrastructure companies.

• Recent Deals: Harness Series B $60M (2019), Series D $100M (2022), manages $9B AUM
• LinkedIn: Somesh Dash
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Infrastructure, DevOps, SaaS, Media, Consumer Internet
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D, Growth
• Location: Menlo Park, USA
• Website: ivp.com

6. Insight Partners

Global software investor backing growth-stage DevOps and infrastructure platforms.

• Recent Deals: Transmit Security $543M Series A (2021), JFrog $165M Series D (2018), Devtron $12M (February 2025), manages $90B AUM
• LinkedIn: Jeff Horing
• Sector Focus: DevOps, Enterprise Software, Cybersecurity, AI/ML, Infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D, Growth
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: insightpartners.com

7. Goldman Sachs

Investment bank's growth equity arm backing late-stage tech and infrastructure companies.

• Recent Deals: GitLab $268M Series E at $2.7B valuation (2019, now public $7B market cap)
• LinkedIn: Goldman Sachs Growth Equity
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Software, DevOps, Infrastructure, Fintech
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, Growth, Pre-IPO
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: goldmansachs.com

8. ICONIQ Capital

Growth-stage investor backing enterprise platforms and infrastructure tools.

• Recent Deals: GitLab $100M Series D (2018), $268M Series E (2019)
• LinkedIn: Will Griffith
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Software, Infrastructure, DevOps, Consumer
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, Growth
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Website: iconiqcapital.com

9. Khosla Ventures

Early-stage investor backing technical founders in infrastructure and dev tools.

• Recent Deals: GitLab $4M Series A (2015, now public $7B market cap)
• LinkedIn: Vinod Khosla
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Infrastructure, DevOps, AI, Climate Tech, Healthcare
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Location: Menlo Park, USA
• Website: khoslaventures.com

10. Y Combinator

Leading startup accelerator backing hundreds of DevOps and infrastructure companies.

• Recent Deals: GitLab Series B (2016), backed 300+ companies per batch in 2025
• LinkedIn: Garry Tan
• Sector Focus: All Technology Sectors, including DevOps, Infrastructure, SaaS
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, Seed
• Location: Mountain View, USA
• Website: ycombinator.com

11. Battery Ventures

Multi-stage investor backing enterprise infrastructure and B2B software platforms.

• Recent Deals: JFrog Series C (2016), CircleCI multiple rounds, manages $7B+ AUM
• LinkedIn: Neeraj Agrawal
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Infrastructure, DevOps, SaaS, Cybersecurity
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth
• Location: Boston, USA
• Website: battery.com

12. Accel

Global early-stage investor with 1,000+ portfolio companies including DevOps leaders.

• Recent Deals: CircleCI multiple rounds, GitLab early investor, 117 deals in 2025
• LinkedIn: Ping Li
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Software, DevOps, Infrastructure, SaaS, Consumer
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: Palo Alto, USA
• Website: accel.com

13. Tiger Global Management

Growth equity investor backing late-stage infrastructure and software companies.

• Recent Deals: Snyk raised $1.3B total (Tiger participated Series C 2019), Harness multiple rounds
• LinkedIn: Scott Shleifer
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Software, DevOps, Infrastructure, Consumer Internet
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, Growth, Pre-IPO
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: tigerglobal.com

14. Sapphire Ventures

Growth-stage investor backing enterprise infrastructure and developer platforms.

• Recent Deals: CircleCI $100M Series E (2020), JFrog $165M Series D (2018)
• LinkedIn: Jai Das
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Infrastructure, DevOps, Security, Fintech
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D, Growth
• Location: Austin, USA
• Website: sapphireventures.com

15. Greenspring Associates

Growth equity firm backing late-stage enterprise software and infrastructure companies.

• Recent Deals: CircleCI $100M Series F at $1.7B valuation (May 2021)
• LinkedIn: Greenspring Associates Team
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Software, Infrastructure, DevOps, Healthcare IT
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, Series E, Growth
• Location: Owings Mills, USA
• Website: greenspringassociates.com

16. Scale Venture Partners

Growth-stage investor focused on B2B enterprise software and infrastructure.

• Recent Deals: CircleCI Series B (2016), JFrog Series D (2018)
• LinkedIn: Rory O'Driscoll
• Sector Focus: Enterprise Infrastructure, DevOps, SaaS, Security, Data
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: Foster City, USA
• Website: scalevp.com

17. Baseline Ventures

Early-stage investor backing developer tools and infrastructure from inception.

• Recent Deals: CircleCI from seed (2013) through Series C (2018)
• LinkedIn: Steve Anderson
• Sector Focus: Developer Tools, DevOps, Infrastructure, Consumer
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Website: baselinev.com

18. Boldstart Ventures

Seed-stage investor focused on infrastructure and developer security tools.

• Recent Deals: Snyk seed round (2016, company raised $1.3B total to $3.3B valuation)
• LinkedIn: Ed Sim
• Sector Focus: DevOps Security, Infrastructure, Enterprise Software, Dev Tools
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, Seed
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: boldstart.vc

How Ellty helps DevOps startups track investor engagement

These 18 investors closed deals from 2015 to 2026. Before you start pitching, set up tracking. Most founders waste months sending decks to growth-stage investors when they need seed funding, or pitching CI/CD specialists with kubernetes platform plays.

Upload your deck to Ellty and create a unique link for each investor. You'll see exactly which slides they view and how long they spend on your deployment metrics. Most founders are surprised to learn investors skip their technology architecture slides but spend 5+ minutes on customer deployment frequency improvements. That tells you what matters in first meetings.

When investors ask for technical benchmarks during due diligence, share an Ellty data room instead of scattered Google Drive folders. Your infrastructure diagrams, performance benchmarks, customer deployment stats, and pricing model in one secure place with view analytics. You'll know if they actually reviewed your kubernetes architecture or just claimed they did during the partner meeting.

Common questions

How do I know if an investor is still active in DevOps?

Check their last three deals. If they haven't led a DevOps round in 24+ months, they probably shifted focus to AI infrastructure. Look at fund size too - if they raised a $2B fund, they won't write $5M checks anymore. Series focus matters more than sector labels.

Should I cold email DevOps investors or get introductions?

Warm intros through portfolio CTOs convert 10x better. Message engineering leaders from their portfolio companies on LinkedIn. Most will make intros if your infrastructure solution is relevant. Cold emails to partners work maybe 2% of the time. Technical credibility matters more in DevOps than other sectors.

What's the difference between seed and Series A DevOps investors?

Seed investors (Boldstart, Baseline) fund pre-revenue companies with strong technical founders and open-source traction. Series A investors (IRIS, Menlo) want $500K+ ARR and proven enterprise adoption. Don't waste time pitching the wrong stage - it signals you don't understand fundraising.

How many DevOps investors should I reach out to?

Start with 10-15 that match your stage and technical focus. Track response rates in Ellty. If you're getting 0% response after 20 emails, your positioning or target list is wrong. Kubernetes platform investors won't fund CI/CD tools and vice versa.

When should I set up a data room for DevOps investors?

Set it up before first meetings. Serious infrastructure investors will ask for architecture diagrams, performance benchmarks, and deployment metrics within 48 hours of the first call. Have it ready. Missing technical documentation signals you're not ready for enterprise sales.

Do investors actually care about pitch deck analytics?

Yes. Smart investors track their own deal flow metrics. They want to see if you're monitoring your fundraising process systematically. It shows you understand measurement and data-driven decisions, which matters for DevOps companies selling infrastructure tools to engineering teams.