Benchmark raises its first-ever growth fund as part of $2B capital raise

Benchmark Capital, the storied Silicon Valley VC steadfast known for aboriginal investments successful eBay, Snap, Uber, and Twitter, is breaking with 1 of its signature traditions: keeping its funds to astir $425 cardinal and backing lone young startups. After much than 2 decades of restricting its vehicles to that magnitude oregon lower, the outfit has closed connected commitments of $2 cardinal crossed 2 caller funds, including a $1.25 cardinal conveyance dedicated to later-stage investments, according to the Wall Street Journal.

While the money sizes of galore task superior firms person ballooned into billions of dollars implicit the past decade, Benchmark stuck to the strategy that helped marque it legendary. By being staunchly selective and taking a large—typically 20%—stake successful each startup the steadfast backed, it maintained a exemplary designed to maximize outsized returns for its constricted partners.

However, Benchmark’s comparatively tiny money sizes person apt prevented the steadfast from investing successful capital-intensive AI startups, peculiarly instauration exemplary makers, whose circular sizes often scope into hundreds of millions. As a result, the steadfast hasn’t invested successful Anthropic, OpenAI, oregon immoderate of the different capital-intensive AI labs, specified arsenic Periodic Labs, Reflection AI, oregon Recursive Superintelligence.

Benchmark’s caller $750 cardinal early-stage money volition springiness the steadfast much flexibility to constitute checks successful an situation wherever early-stage valuations person skyrocketed. While the steadfast has traditionally backed companies astatine the Series A stage, Benchmark has precocious fixed itself much flexibility to put successful companies astatine different aboriginal stages of development.

In caller months, Benchmark backed 2 Series B startups: Gumloop, a level that allows enterprises to make AI agents without penning code, and Monaco, an AI-native income and CRM platform.

Benchmark wide spouse Everett Randle antecedently told TechCrunch that the steadfast looks to physique a “meaningful and heavy narration with the entrepreneurs, and that tin hap comparatively aboriginal successful the company’s lifecycle, astatine seed, [Series] A, astatine [Series] B.”

The steadfast dipped its toed into late-stage investing erstwhile it raised a $225 cardinal peculiar intent conveyance (SPV) to enactment successful a $1 cardinal pre-IPO circular for Cerebras, arsenic TechCrunch reported earlier. Benchmark archetypal led the chipmaker’s Series A successful 2016. Cerebras held its IPO past month, returning Benchmark $3.25 billion astatine the IPO price.

That windfall prompted the steadfast to rise a dedicated maturation fund. That caller conveyance volition marque 5 to six ample investments successful some existing portfolio companies and caller startups, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with Benchmark’s strategy.

The 2 caller funds aren’t the lone changes astatine Benchmark. Over the past 2 years, the steadfast has undergone a important displacement successful its wide partners.

In 2024, Miles Grimshaw near the steadfast to rejoin Thrive Capital. Then, past year, Sarah Tavel—Benchmark’s archetypal and lone pistillate wide spouse to date—took connected the less-involved relation of task partner, portion Victor Lazarte departed to commencement his ain VC firm.

To replenish its ranks, Benchmark — which traditionally runs with 4 to six wide partners — added 2 caller high-profile investors to its team: Randle, poached from Kleiner Perkins, and Jack Altman, the member of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The moves suggest that adjacent Benchmark, agelong defined by its absorption to growth, present sees the AI epoch arsenic requiring a antithetic playbook — much capital, much stages, and caller humor astatine the spouse table.