We have scaled a redemptive AI company before.
Mark, Cary, and Carson spent years scaling CloudFactory, a business that put thousands of people in Nepal and Kenya to work on the data behind the world’s AI. Between them they have worked with more than 200 AI companies. We are doing it again, in a studio, on the question of what AI is doing to human connection.
Mark Sears
Founder of CloudFactory, which he started in Nepal in 2011 and scaled from zero to $50M with a global team of 7,000 serving more than 200 companies building AI. He remains its Executive Chairman and has raised more than $80M across two ventures. Mark serves on the board of Praxis.
Cary Smith
A global finance veteran with 30+ years across E&Y, EarthLink, and JBoss, where as CFO he guided the company to its $370M acquisition by Red Hat. Cary went on to serve as CFO of CloudFactory. He builds the financial and operational spine every Sprout venture runs on, from incorporation through seed.
Carson Rockett
A strategy and corporate development executive with prior roles at Liberty Mutual and Navigant Consulting, and head of corporate strategy at CloudFactory. Carson holds an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business. He leads how Sprout picks its problems and shapes its ventures, from first concept through validation.
We co-found every venture alongside its founder, standing in operating roles through the first year until the founding team can carry them.
Founders building with us
Andrew Shearer
Andrew founded and led Farmshelf, an AI-enabled indoor farming company, for nearly a decade, raising $15M from MINI/BMW, SOSV, Compass Group, and executives at Goldman Sachs and HP. Farmshelf grew food inside the places people live and work, turning harvesting vegetables into a ritual of community. It was never really a food tech company; it was community infrastructure. Before that, Twitter and Pinterest. A Praxis alum. Where Farmshelf brought people together around food, CC uses AI to bring people together around life.
hey.ccJeff Thompson
A former CMO, SVP, and GM with 20+ years in CPG at P&G, Johnson & Johnson, Clorox, and Tropicana Brands Group. That means Jeff has been the customer BrandBase is built for, which is why the product starts from how brand teams actually operate rather than from what AI happens to be good at. He now leads the venture.
getbrandbase.comPraxis, our fourth partner
Praxis is not an advisor to Sprout. It is the fourth partner in how this studio works.
Praxis is a venture-building ecosystem awakening redemptive imagination, with 303 active ventures across 113 countries, more than 15,000 jobs, and a 92% venture survival rate. Every Sprout venture is designed with the redemptive frame in partnership with Praxis. Mark serves on the Praxis board. Andrew came to us through the Praxis community.
What redemptive entrepreneurship meansInvestors and advisors
Dave Blanchard, who co-founded Praxis and leads it, advises the studio directly. Alongside him, three of the leaders behind Sovereign’s Capital — the venture fund built to back faith-driven entrepreneurs — have invested in Sprout personally and advise us.
Dave Blanchard
Co-founder and CEO of Praxis, the venture-building ecosystem Sprout designs its ventures with. Previously a Principal Designer at IDEO, and co-author of From Concept to Scale.
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Henry Kaestner
Co-founded Sovereign's Capital and is a partner there. He also co-founded Faith Driven Entrepreneur, Faith Driven Investor, and Faith Driven Athlete. Before that he co-founded Bandwidth (NASDAQ: BAND) and Republic Wireless, serving as CEO and then Chairman as they grew from zero to more than $600M in revenue.
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Luke Roush
Co-founded Sovereign's Capital in 2012 and is Co-CEO. He opened the fund's Asia operations from Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, after twelve years in global commercialization at venture-backed and Fortune 500 companies.
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Jake Thomsen
A Managing Partner at Sovereign's Capital who teaches redemptive investing in the Praxis Academy.
LinkedIn ↗Why we do this
We do this because we follow Jesus and want to join God in the renewal of all things. That conviction shapes what we build, how we treat people, and which opportunities we walk away from.
People often assume that means church software, Bible apps, and devotional tools. We rarely build those. Instead we build commercial products for everyone, designed to strengthen relationships so that people can flourish.