At Ansa, we've observed that some of the most compelling company-building stories come from the peers of CEOs along with their direct reports. In this installment of C[X]O Spotlight, we sat down with Ted Kornish, Co-Founder and CTO of Gravity Climate, to unpack his perspective on product velocity, building software in complex markets, and what a decarbonization company can learn from Costco.

Industrial decarbonization isn't the most obvious place to build software. What made the timing and market feel right?

Ted: A few things aligned. My co-founder Saleh deeply understands building compliance products for industrial customers. He also knows how valuable it is when that compliance product can also deliver standalone value. In this case, carbon accounting and energy efficiency fit together perfectly. For example, we can use the same data that powers carbon accounting to make or save millions of dollars for our customers, which adds up when margins are slim. My background is more on the software side. I knew that AI could give new superpowers to …

Firm Updates

At Ansa, we’ve been investing meaningfully in both internal tools—like Ansa Arc—and external programs such as our Revenue Council. To help us scale these efforts, we recently welcomed two exceptional new team members.

Arielle Warren, Operations and Network Lead

Arielle is the Operations and Network Lead at Ansa, where she focuses on portfolio value creation, special projects and Ansa's network products. Prior to Ansa, Arielle founded two companies: Visaro AI, an AI-driven adtech startup, and Places to Go, which simplified group travel planning. She began her career at Deloitte in their consulting practice. Arielle graduated from Boston University with a degree in Communications, where she also served as captain of the figure skating team.

Wali Khan, Data and Product Lead

Wali leads Data and Product at Ansa, where he oversees the development of internal data systems and software products that support the firm’s sourcing efforts, investment decisions and portfolio companies. Prior to Ansa, Wali began his career as a software engineer at Credera, a technology-focused consulting firm. He graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Science, Computer Science and earned his master’s degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech where he specialized in Machine Learning.

We’re excited to welcome Wali and Arielle on board and look forward to the ways they’ll help deepen our platform for founders and investors alike.

Portfolio News

Sprint: The Scaling Playbook

In June, we co-hosted The Sprint—a gathering of 60 early-stage founders and industry leaders focused on scaling from Seed to Growth and navigating the evolving AI landscape. The day featured candid conversations and tactical insights, with keynote speakers including executives from OpenAI and Meta’s GenAI efforts; the founders of Alta, Slice, Blank Street, Oula, and Conduktor; and special guests Ken Chenault (former Chairman & CEO of American Express) and Andy Golden. Thank you to our incredible team for making it all happen! [View on Linkedin]

CRN: The 10 Hottest AI Startup Companies of 2025

CRN recently published their list of the Top 10 AI companies naming Ansa portfolio company AI Squared, alongside a strong cohort that includes Anthropic, Perplexity, and Cursor. [Read More]

SAIC and Defense Unicorns Partner to Transform Software Delivery for the Department of Defense 

SAIC and Defense Unicorns have formed a strategic partnership to modernize software delivery across the Department of Defense. By integrating Defense Unicorns’ Unicorn Delivery Service (UDS) into SAIC’s delivery ecosystem, the collaboration enables secure, scalable, and repeatable deployment of mission-critical applications—whether in the cloud, on-prem, or at the tactical edge. This partnership is expected to cut delivery timelines from months to days, accelerating operational readiness and the fielding of critical capabilities to U.S. defense systems. [Read More]

Gravity Named a CDP Accredited Provider 

Gravity has been named an Accredited Solutions Provider (ASP) by CDP, the global standard for environmental disclosure. Notably, Gravity was also recognized as North America’s first Sustainable Finance ASP—underscoring its leadership in helping financial institutions measure and reduce portfolio emissions. With direct integration into CDP’s API, Gravity enables streamlined climate reporting for over 25,000 companies worldwide—accelerating disclosure and ROI-centered actions on emissions . [Read More]

Itential & Selector Partner to Deliver AI-Driven Automation

Itential and Selector have joined forces to streamline infrastructure operations through a new AI-driven, closed-loop automation solution. By integrating Selector’s real-time anomaly detection and root cause analysis with Itential’s orchestration platform, the partnership enables instant, automated remediation across hybrid environments. This combination helps enterprise and service provider teams reduce manual intervention, accelerate incident response, and unlock fully autonomous, self-healing network operations. [Read More]

SpecterOps Expands the Capabilities of BloodHound Enterprise 

SpecterOps is enhancing its security platform with a new feature called Privilege Zones, designed to enforce least-privilege access across cloud, hybrid, and on-prem environments. Privilege Zones introduces logical access boundaries around critical assets, like code repositories and payment systems, to enforce zero trust principles. [Read More]

The WSJ profiles AI Squared CTO: From Bengaluru to Silicon Valley

When AI Squared acquired Multiwoven, a reverse ETL platform founded in Bangaluru, India, it was vital for the company’s leaders to collaborate together in person and within the United States. The journey of Multiwoven’s CTO, Nagendra Dhanakeerthi, was recently highlighted by the Wall Street Journal and expands on AI Squared’s ability to recruit and support leading technical talent. [Read More, LinkedIn]

Farcaster's Dan Romero — “Rebuilding Social Media the Right Way”

Dan Romero, Founder and CEO, discusses the improving regulatory environment and the shift in the way users will interact with social media in the coming years. [Read More]

Ansa x Amplify — AI Elite Engineers Dinner

In June, we teamed up with Amplify Partners to host a private dinner at Gemma, bringing together senior engineers and researchers from top AI labs. The group traded insights on frontier model development, infrastructure design, and real-world deployment. Want to join a future gathering? Reach out to get involved.

Thank you for reading The Latest from Ansa

Marco DeMeireles & Allan Jean-Baptiste