- Kleiner Perkins raised $3.5 billion across two funds: $1 billion for early-stage AI startups and $2.5 billion for growth-stage companies.
- The firm has returned more than $13 billion to limited partners under managing partners Mamoon Hamid and Ilya Fushman.
- Portfolio AI bets include Anthropic (valued at roughly $330 billion), Safe Superintelligence, Harvey, and Applied Intuition.
- This is the largest fundraise in Kleiner Perkins’ current era, bringing total capital raised under Hamid and Fushman to over $6 billion.
What Happened
Kleiner Perkins, one of Silicon Valley’s oldest venture capital firms, announced it has raised $3.5 billion in new capital focused on artificial intelligence investments. TechCrunch reported on March 24, 2026, that the fundraise includes $1 billion for KP22, the firm’s 22nd early-stage fund, and $2.5 billion for late-stage growth investments.
Managing partners Mamoon Hamid and Ilya Fushman led the raise. The $3.5 billion total is notably larger than the firm’s 2024 fundraising, which included an $825 million early-stage fund (KP21) and a $1.2 billion follow-on fund (KP Select III).
When Hamid joined Kleiner Perkins in the summer of 2017, the firm’s reputation had declined after a series of underperforming funds and organizational turmoil. “People kept asking: ‘What are you doing?'” Hamid recalled, according to Fortune’s reporting.
Why It Matters
The $3.5 billion raise represents the largest single fundraise in the history of Kleiner Perkins’ current leadership era. It signals that institutional investors, the limited partners who commit capital to venture funds, remain willing to write large checks for AI-focused strategies even as some observers question whether AI valuations have overheated.
The growth-stage allocation of $2.5 billion reflects a practical reality of AI investing in 2026. AI companies require significant capital to train models, build infrastructure, and scale operations. Early-stage AI startups often need follow-on funding that exceeds what traditional venture funds can provide, making the growth fund a strategic complement to the early-stage vehicle.
Under Hamid and Fushman, Kleiner Perkins has returned more than $13 billion to its limited partners, demonstrating that the firm’s turnaround has translated into actual financial performance, not just deal flow or brand recognition.
Technical Details
The firm’s AI portfolio spans several categories of artificial intelligence. Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI assistant, was valued at roughly $330 billion in its most recent primary round and is widely expected to pursue an IPO in 2026. Safe Superintelligence Inc., founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, focuses on long-term AI safety research.
Harvey operates as an AI platform designed for legal professionals, automating contract review and legal research tasks. Applied Intuition builds simulation and infrastructure software for autonomous vehicles. Harmonic, founded by Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev, represents another AI investment in the portfolio.
The $1 billion early-stage fund (KP22) targets AI startups at the seed and Series A level, where initial check sizes typically range from $1 million to $25 million. The $2.5 billion growth fund focuses on Series B and later rounds where check sizes typically range from $50 million to several hundred million dollars, reflecting the capital intensity of scaling AI infrastructure.
Who’s Affected
AI founders benefit from additional available capital at both early and growth stages. The growth fund in particular addresses a funding gap where promising AI companies need large rounds to compete with well-capitalized rivals backed by firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.
Other venture firms face increased competition for deals. With $3.5 billion in fresh capital, Kleiner Perkins can move quickly on term sheets and participate in rounds that smaller funds cannot access. The firm’s brand recognition and portfolio network also give it a competitive advantage in deal sourcing.
Limited partners, including pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds, are making a concentrated bet that AI investments will continue to generate outsized returns. The $13 billion returned under current leadership supports that thesis, but past performance does not guarantee future results in a market where AI valuations have risen sharply across the board.
What’s Next
Kleiner Perkins has now raised over $6 billion across multiple funds during the Hamid-Fushman era. The firm’s ability to deploy the $2.5 billion growth fund will depend on whether AI companies continue to command premium valuations and whether the current wave of AI enterprise adoption sustains its pace. If the AI market corrects, large growth-stage commitments carry concentration risk that smaller, diversified funds avoid. Anthropic’s expected IPO in 2026 will serve as a significant test case for whether the firm’s largest AI bets deliver returns at scale.
