Lightfield

Who Is Behind the Company

Lightfield was founded in 2020 by a team that includes Keith Peiris, Jack Reed, and Matt Serna. The founding team previously built Tome, an AI storytelling product that the founders report reached approximately 25 million users before the team pivoted to the CRM category [iHeart Boardroom Club Podcast] [Contrary Research].

Inside the Company

Lightfield is a San Francisco-based CRM startup that publicly emerged in November 2025 after roughly a year in stealth [TechTimes, 2025]. The company pitches an "AI-native" CRM that assembles itself from a team's email, calendar, and meeting data rather than relying on manual rep entry [TechTimes, 2025] [Lightspeed]. The company's wedge is to reach companies "before HubSpot even thinks about you," focusing on early-stage venture-backed startups and vertical SaaS businesses operating in the gap between $500K and $5M ARR [Contrary Research] [Lightfield].

Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by Contrary Research, Crunchbase, Tracxn, PitchBook, and the company's own blog and about page.

Under the Hood

Lightfield markets itself as an AI-native CRM that "assembles itself" from a team's email, calendar, and meeting data [Lightspeed]. The product captures customer interactions automatically and uses AI to suggest next actions and reminders, positioning itself as a system of prompts rather than a traditional system of record [Crunchbase]. The target buyer is early-stage venture-backed startups and vertical SaaS businesses that have not yet adopted a traditional CRM [Contrary Research].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Product description corroborated by Crunchbase, Tracxn, Contrary Research, and Lightspeed; technical stack is inferred from LinkedIn signals only.

Market Research and Opportunity

The CRM category is highly contested, with AI-native entrants repositioning the market around automated capture and agentic workflows. Lightfield's strategy is to reach companies "before HubSpot even thinks about you," addressing the adoption-curve gap where early-stage companies typically delay CRM adoption [Contrary Research].

Market signal	Source
Strategy: reach companies "before HubSpot even thinks about you"	[Contrary Research]
Target ARR band: roughly $500K to $5M	[Lightfield]
Target customer: early-stage venture-backed startups and vertical SaaS	[Contrary Research]
Tome predecessor reportedly reached ~25M users	[iHeart Boardroom Club Podcast] [Forbes, 2023]

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Positioning and target-customer claims are corroborated by Contrary Research and Lightfield's own blog; no third-party TAM figure was located for the specific subsegment.

Competition and Substitutes

Company	Positioning	Stage / Funding	Notable Differentiator	Source
Lightfield	AI-native CRM that assembles itself from email, calendar, meetings; targets sub-$5M ARR startups	Early commercial, backed by Lightspeed; YC affiliation	Automated capture plus action suggestions aimed at pre-HubSpot buyers	[Lightspeed] [Contrary Research]
HubSpot	Mid-market and SMB CRM and marketing platform; AI features added on top of system of record	Public company (NYSE: HUBS)	Distribution, integrations, brand recognition with growing startups	[Contrary Research]

Sources

1. [Contrary Research] Report: Lightfield Business Breakdown & Founding Story | https://research.contrary.com/company/lightfield
2. [PitchBook] Lightfield 2026 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/465371-20
3. [Tracxn] Lightfield - 2026 Company Profile, Team & Competitors | https://tracxn.com/d/companies/lightfield/__R6sg_Tio14bti4FbRIy8bvlIHHG1A7C39R_tvo8XAyk
4. [Lightfield] Why we built Lightfield | https://lightfield.app/blog/why-we-built-lightfield
5. [Lightfield] About | https://lightfield.app/company
6. [Crunchbase] Lightfield - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/lightfield-cd67
7. [iHeart Boardroom Club Podcast] AI Summit: Keith Peiris, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightfield | https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-boardroom-club-270257368/episode/ai-summit-keith-peiris-co-founder-and-297153269/
8. [Forbes, 2023] Buzzy Storytelling Startup Tome Raises $43 Million From A Who's Who In AI | https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2023/02/22/storytelling-ai-startup-tome-raises-43-million/
9. [Forbes] Keith Peiris | CEO - Tome | Forbes Business Council | https://councils.forbes.com/profile/Keith-Peiris-CEO-Tome/40ec589f-c464-42b9-ba6e-3203a860dd1a
10. [LinkedIn] Lightfield company page | https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightfld
11. [LinkedIn] Jack Reed - Co-Founder at Lightfield | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackreed/
12. [LinkedIn] Matt Serna - Lightfield | https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattserna/
13. [LinkedIn] Nathan Chau - Engineering at Lightfield | https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-chau-363130180/
14. [LinkedIn] Alex Cannon - Lightfield | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-cannon-aa61aa139/
15. [TechTimes, 2025] Lightfield public launch coverage | referenced in research aggregation