* Article updated September 22, 2022 with new and recent insights.
According to the 2020 National Venture Capital Association Yearbook, there are approximately 1,300 firms that manage about 2,200 active venture funds in the US. Of the thousand and so venture capital (VC) firms, we have listed some of the top venture capital (VC) firms, as well as some of the best venture capitalists based in the United States.
With funding support, these VC firms and individuals propel many businesses forward, as evidenced by the amount of venture capital funding in 2021. The year 2021 saw a record annual total of $276 billion in venture capital funding, which is more than double that of 2020. In total, 9,700 deals were made, and mega-deals sized $100 million or more accounted for 59% of the total venture capital volume in 2021 and registered the largest year-over-year increase of 167%.
Where does venture capital in the US flow?
Venture Capital deals were mostly concentrated in Silicon Valley, which could be described as a mecca for North American venture capital-funded companies.
The number of VC deals made in California is astronomical. More specifically, the San Francisco Bay Area accounted for the largest share of venture capital in the US, receiving 38% or $103.1 billion of 2021’s total venture capital volume, exhibiting a 101% growth from 2020 to 2021.
In second place was New York with 17% or $46 billion, registering a 171% increase from 2020 to 2021. New York was the leader for year-over-year growth among the top five markets. Coming in third was the Boston area with $30.8 billion, a 78% increase from 2020, which saw an amount of $13.9 billion in venture capital deals.
How does venture capital work?
In short, venture capitalists and VC firms seek new companies to invest in. They focus on new and small-sized businesses that are high risk but show a lot of potential for explosive scalability or have already shown impressive growth.
The goal of venture capital firms? To receive a high return. The riskier the investment, the higher the chance of a big return.
For example, if a startup, small business, or entrepreneur secures a VC firm's investment, the VC firm will become a supportive backbone of the company. Even though all venture capital firm partners have an ownership stake in the venture firm, general partners are actually more involved. In some cases, they may serve as managers, advisors, and board representatives to the companies they invest in.
[Related Article - Top 100 Venture Capitalists in Europe]
In the earliest stages, a VC firm may provide pre-seed or accelerator-stage capital to an entrepreneur to assist them in developing a business idea and product. Seed-stage capital is provided to an entrepreneur that has the potential to develop their idea into an early-stage product or service.
According to PitchBook and NVCA’s Venture Monitor, seed-stage investments have been isolated from recent economic troubles. In 2021, 449 micro funds were raised, and in 2022, the growing trend is expected to continue over the next quarters.
Early-stage investments usually involve capital provided to set up a company's early operation and basic production. This capital is usually funneled into product development, marketing, commercial manufacturing, and sales.
PitchBook’s Venture Monitor reports that the total deal value of Q2 2022 dropped significantly below the record quarterly highs of 2021, indicating that the growth of private markets is decreasing to a level similar to that of 2020. Nevertheless, the median deal size in Q2 showed sizable growth amounting to $10.7 million. This means that there are still some startups that can collect the desired amounts of venture capital.
Later-stage investments include capital for initial expansion, major expansions, mergers and acquisitions, and capital needed to go public. Venture Monitor shows that in Q2 2022, late-stage VC investments are beginning to demonstrate downward trends in size and number. Nonetheless, the medium deal size of late-stage is still nearly 40% higher than the medium from full-year 2020 and is not expected to fall below pre-2021 figures.
Venture capital funding by industry
In terms of industry, the technology sector was the most popular sector, with a whopping 77% or $212 billion of total venture capital funding in 2021 funneled into this area. Software (68%), e-commerce (11%), and cloud (10%) companies received the most funding in the technology sector. The life sciences sector was second with a 14% market share, while no other sector surpassed 2% of the total venture capital funding.
Technology is a mammoth sector that boasts the largest single market segment. It is an attractive prospect for investors because technology and innovation go hand in hand. In turn, companies with innovative technologies are more likely to grow and bring high returns to venture capitalists.
Software receives huge investments as it is a crucial part of the Information Technology (IT) ecosystem. It has become so ingrained in our everyday lives and businesses. With the ever-increasing prominence of the Internet of Things (IoT)—cloud computing, deep learning, and other IT sectors—software will not budge any time soon.
[Download our free report - Industry Insights: Information Technology]
Who are the top venture capitalists in the USA
Benchmark
Benchmark was founded in 1995 in Menlo Park, California, focusing on early-stage funding. The firm has four founders: Andy Rachleff, Kevin Harvey, Bob Kagle, and Bruce Dunlevie. Benchmark has invested in several well-known startups and unicorns. For example, they invested in eBay in 1997, and later Snapchat, Instagram, Uber, Twitter, and Dropbox.
Bill Gurley
For over 10 years, he has been a general partner at Benchmark. Before this, Bill spent four years on Wall Street as a top-ranking research analyst. As of 2020, Gurley will not be a part of Benchmark's new fund but will maintain his current portfolio with Benchmark.
Twitter: @bgurley
Peter Fenton
Fenton has expertise in open-source technology and has been at Benchmark since 2006. With Gurley stepping down at Benchmark, Fenton is now the most senior member. He ranked number two on the Forbes Midas List of the "Top Technology Investors" in 2015, and as of 2020, Fenton is ranked at number 25th. He was a Twitter board member for over eight years.
Twitter: @peterfenton
Mitch Lasky
Before becoming a part of Benchmark in 2007, he was senior counsel at the Walt Disney Company during their most successful run. He is an active board member at Snapchat and PlayFab. He is also a former gaming entrepreneur and board member at Activision. Presently, he is serving as a board member at communications platform Discord, which is valued at $2 billion U.S., and is a co-owner of the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC).
Twitter: @mitchlasky
Matt Cohler
Before becoming a general partner at Benchmark, Cohler was the vice president and special advisor at Facebook for seven years and vice president and general manager at LinkedIn for two years. He graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 2016 he ranked 23rd among Forbes' richest American entrepreneurs under 40.
Twitter: @mattcohler
Baseline Ventures
Baseline Ventures was established in 2006 by Steve Anderson in San Francisco, California. The firm was the first seed investor of Instagram, and an early investor of Twitter. According to Forbes, the company is "one of Silicon Valley's most successful (and smallest) investment firms".
Steve Anderson
Before founding Baseline Ventures in 2006, he gained experience from companies such as eBay as a product manager and Microsoft as a senior director. In 2020, Anderson ranked on Forbes Midas List in the 84th spot and was noted as one of the first seed investors on Instagram.
Canvas Venture
Canvas Venture was founded in California in 2013. Gary Little and Rebecca Lynn are the founders of the firm. The firm dedicated itself to investments in companies related to the technology industry.
Rebecca Lynn
Rebeca Lynn is a co-founder at Canvas Ventures, a top "VC Firm to Watch" according to the Forbes 2015 Midas List, and holds a top spot as one of Midas's top female investors. She holds a chemical engineering degree and has 20 years of experience in fintech.
Twitter: @VCRebecca
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed Venture Partners was founded in 2000 by Ravi Mhatre, Barry Eggers, Christopher Schaepe, and Peter Nieh. Their headquarters are in Menlo Park, California. The firm has made notable investments, one being Snapchat. Lightspeed Venture Partners invests primarily in enterprise, cleantech, and technology companies.
Ravi Mhatre
Ravi Mhatre founded Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2000. Before this, he was an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners. His focus is on IT and tech companies. Currently, his firm holds over $10 billion in assets under management.
Twitter: @ravi_lsvp
Jeremy Liew
Jeremy Liew invests in areas such as financial services, bitcoin, online travel, media, consumer internet, and mobile. He has been part of Lightspeed Venture Partners since 2006 as a partner. Before this, he was a business analyst at McKinsey&Co in Sydney and Johannesburg.
Twitter: @jeremyliew
Unusual Ventures
Unusual Ventures was established in 2018 and is based in Menlo Park, California. They have invested in companies notable companies Transposit and Visor.
John Vrionis
Vrionis invests in consumer IT and enterprise. He joined Unusual Ventures in January 2018 and was also a venture partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners where he joined in 2006. Notable early investments in billion-dollar companies are AppDynamics and Mulesoft.
Twitter: @jvrionis
Union Square Ventures (USV)
Fred Wilson founded USV in 2003 in New York, NY. The firm made investments in Twitter and Tumblr. USV invests in internet, mobile, and web service sectors. The partnership manages over $1 billion across seven funds.
Fred Wilson
Fred has been a partner at Union Square Ventures (USV) since 2003, and also founded Flatiron Partners over 22 years ago. He has a Mechanical Engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from The Wharton School. He is now a board member of a cryptocurrency marketplace called Coinbase.
Twitter: @fredwilson
Albert Wenger
He joined Union Square Ventures in February 2008. Besides USV he is involved in many companies and is a director at Skillshare and Top Hat. He holds a PhD in Information Technology from MIT.
Twitter: @albertwenger
Greylock Partners
Greylock Partners began in 1965 thanks to two founders: Dan Gregory and Bill Elfers. The firm is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They have invested in companies such as Facebook, Airbnb, LinkedIn, and Dropbox. The firm focuses on all stages of a company.
David Sze
Sze has been at Greylock Partners since 2000 where he operates as a general partner. He has a BA from Yale University and an MBA from Stanford University. He is also a Trustee at Yale University and The Rockefeller University. Notable investment was Facebook in 2006.
Twitter: @davidsze
Reid Hoffman
Hoffman has been at Greylock Partners for the past nine years. He focuses on software and the consumer internet. He also works heavily in product development, innovation, brand management among other areas. Besides this, he is a board member at Microsoft and a board observer at Airbnb.
Twitter: @reidhoffman
Asheem Chandna
Chandna is a partner at Greylock Partners, and has worked with the infamous VC firm since 2003. Chandna has made the Forbes Midas List nine years in a row and has been mentioned among the top 20 VC's in the New York TImes. He has expertise in recruitment, business development, and marketing.
Twitter: @chandna
Venrock
Venrock was founded in 1969 in Palo Alto, California by Laurance Rockefeller. The name of the firm comes from the combination of "Venture" and "Rockefeller". They mainly focus on early stage and startup companies in IT and other technology related areas. The firm has made investments in large companies such as Apple, and Intel.
Bryan Roberts
Bryan has been a Venrock partner for over 22 years. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University. Roberts has made it to the Forbes Midas List for 12 years. He primarily invests in healthcare, as well as notable web company Cloudflare.
Twitter: @BRobertsVC
David Pakman
Pakman has been a partner at Venrock since 2008 and now serves as advisor since 2021. Venrock focuses on companies related to consumer services and enterprise. He started his career at Apple as a product manager where he co-founded the Apple Music Group. His focus now has shifted towards consumer products, robotics, automation, and crypto.
Twitter: @pakman
Accel Partners
Accel Partners was founded in 1983 by Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz and is based in Palo Alto, California. It is an early and growth-stage VC firm. The firm focuses on technology areas such as consumers, mobile, and security technology. Their notable investment include Facebook, Slack, Spotify, and Jet.com.
Ping Li
Ping Li joined Accel Partners in 2004 where he works as a general partner. Prior to Accel, he was an associate at McKinsey&Co, and a product line manager and director of corporate development at Juniper Networks.
Twitter: @ping_accel
Sameer Gandhi
Before becoming a partner at Accel Partners in 2008 he was a partner at Sequoia Capital for more than nine years. He is responsible for Accel's investment in Spotify, among others, and focuses on SaaS, cloud, and media companies. In 2022, he ranked number 21 top tech investors on Forbes Midas List.
Twitter: @skg_accel
Rich Wong
Wong has been a general partner at Accel Partners for over 14 years. His main fields of focus are mobile technologies and software. He serves on the board of directors for various companies, more notably UiPath, which is a leader in robotic process automation.
Twitter: @RWong
Ryan Sweeney
Ryan joined Accel in 2009 where he works as a partner. Sweeny's areas of interest include software, SaaS, and financial technology companies. He co-led the Series A and following rounds in the SAP acquisition of Qualtrics in 2019, which was the largest purchase of a venture-backed software start-up enterprise.
Twitter: @ryanjsweeney
Andrew Braccia
Andrew joined Accel Partners in 2007 where he works as a general partner. He is an active board member in companies such as MyFitnessPal, Prezi, lynda.com. He is on the board of directors at the company Slack and due to this investment, he is on Forbes 2020 Midas List at the number two spot.
New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) was founded in 1977 by Richard Kramlich, Frank Bonsal, and Chuck Newhall. The firm primarily invests in areas such as healthcare and consumer technology.
Scott Sandell
Sandell operates as a managing general partner at NEA and has worked at the company since 1996. He ranked number 16 on Forbes Midas List as a Top Tech Investors in 2018 and number 26 in 2020. He also serves on the board of directors in multiple companies.
Twitter: @ScottDSandell
Tony Florence
Prior to New Enterprise Associates, he was the managing director at Morgan Stanley for 16 years. He received his MBA in Finance from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He focuses on investments in enterprise and consumer companies.
Cowboy Ventures
Cowboy Ventures was founded by Aileen Lee in 2012 in Palo Alto, California. They focus on seed and early-stage digital startups as investments. Among their investments is Crunchbase.
Aileen Lee
Aileen Lee founded Cowboy Ventures in 2012 where she works as a managing partner. Prior to this, she was a partner at Kleiner Perkins for over 12 years. Earlier in her career, she was part of the business development sector at Gap Inc., later becoming a special assistant to the CEO. She holds an MBA diploma from Harvard Business School. She is also on Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People List in 2019.
Twitter: @aileenlee
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital was founded in 1972 by Donald T. Valentine in Menlo Park, California. The company itself specializes in seed, startup, early, and growth stage companies. Sequoia Capital invests in the technology industry. The firm's combined market value is around $1.4 trillion from their investment (these include: Apple, Google, PayPal, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp).
Roelof Botha
Roelof has been a partner at Sequoia Capital since 2003, where he has worked for over 16 years. He works with consumer technology and financial services companies. Prior to this, he worked at PayPal (as the CFO), YouTube, Instagram, and Tumblr. Currently, he is member and on the board of directors for many companies, Eventbrite being one. He is third on the Forbes Midas List for top tech investors in 2020.
Twitter: @roelofbotha
Jim Goetz
Prior to becoming a partner at Sequoia Capital in 2004, he was a general partner at Accel. He invests in networking, storage, and open source. He was also a director at WhatsApp and Sencha. From 2013-2017 he was ranked number 1 on the Forbes Midas List.
Twitter: @jimgoetz
Alfred Lin
Alfred Lin has been a partner at Sequoia Capital since October 2010. He is also among the board of directors at Airbnb, Zipline International, and DoorDash. He was previously the COO for the e-commerce platform Zappos.com, which was acquired by Amazon in 2009.
Twitter: @Alfred_Lin
Michael Moritz
Michael Moritz has been part of Sequoia Capital since 1986. He has also served as part of the board of directors at Google. He ranks 161 on the Forbes 400 List in 2020, which ranks the wealthiest Americans.
Menlo Ventures
Menlo Ventures was established in 1976 thanks to H. DuBose Montgomery. Since then they have made many notable investments, such as Siri. The firm itself prefers to invest in companies in the areas of enterprise and life science technologies.
Shawn Carolan
He has been a partner at Menlo Ventures for over 18 years. He invests in internet, consumer electronics, and digital media companies. Carolan is involved in Uber and has been a part of the investment lead department for over eight years.
Twitter: @shawnvc
First Round Capital
First Round Capital was founded in 2004 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Josh Kopelman and Howard L. Morgan. Notable investment include Uber and Warby Parker. First Round Capital prefers to invest in the technology sector.
Josh Kopelman
Josh Kopelman is a partner and founder at First Round Capital. He holds an Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing diploma from the Wharton School (from the University of Pennsylvania). He is also the Chairman of the Board at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Twitter: @joshk
Rob Hayes
Hayes has been at First Round Capital since 2006 and has led numerous investments, such as Uber and Planet Labs. He graduated from Colombia Business School and has a master's degree in Business Administration and Finance. He is number 11 on the Forbes Midas List of top tech investors in 2020.
Founders Fund
Founders Fund was founded 2005 by Peter Thiel, Ken Howery, Sean Parker (joined in 2006), and Luke Nosek. They are based in San Francisco, California. They invest in all stages and many different sectors including AI, energy, health, and consumer internet. They are among Facebook's early investors. Included in their portfolio are companies such as Airbnb, Spotify, and Wish.
Brian Singerman
Brian was principal at Founders Fund from 2008 until 2011, after becoming a partner, he has been involved in the venture firm and invests in promising startups. Prior to this, he worked at Google as a software engineer, later becoming an engineering manager.
Twitter: @briansin
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel is one of the co-founders of PayPal, serving as managing partner at Founders Fund since March 2006. He is also an investor at LinkedIn and a member of the board of directors at Facebook.
Twitter: @peterthiel
Keith Rabois
He joined Founders Fund in February 2019 as a general partner. Prior to that, he served as managing director at Khosla Ventures for over six years. He was also a vice president at LinkedIn and an executive vice president plus business developer at PayPal.
Twitter: @rabois
Kleiner Perkins
Kleiner Perkins (originally Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers) was founded in 1972 in Menlo Park, California by Brook Byers, Eugene Kleiner, Thomas Perkins, and Frank J. Caufield. In the firm, they focus on investing in technology and life science-related companies. They have made investments in Twitter, Amazon.com, Google, JD.com, and Spotify.
Ilya Fushman
IIlya fushman serves on the board of directors in multiple companies including Cameo, Autograph, and Intercom. He has also served as a board observer at Slack. He focuses on fintech, enterprise, and infrastructure investments.
Twitter: @ilyaf
John Doerr
Doerr has been involved in Kleiner Perkins for 41 years. He is not only a partner but the chairman of the company. He is the author behind Measure What Matters, a handbook with inspiration, lessons, and stories on the innovators of our time. Prior to Kleiner Perkins, he was a board member of Amazon and Google. He was number 45 on the Forbes 400 List in 2020.
Twitter: @johndoerr
Mamoon Hamid
Hamid joined Kleiner Perkins in 2017. He is also co-founder and general partner at Social Capital. He was a board member at Slack until 2019 and is currently a board director at Tally and Netlify. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Twitter: @mamoonha
Beth Seidenberg
Seigenberg has been a general partner at Kleiner Perkins since 2005. She is also managing director at Westlake Village BioTech Partners (since 2018). She is focused on life science and medical technology and holds an MD from the University of Miami, using her medical background as an influence in her VC career.
Twitter: @BethSeidenberg1
ACME CAPITAL
ACME Capital, is based in San Francisco, California and is an early-stage venture capital firm which invests in technology-related companies. Some of their previous investments that are worth mentioning are Robinhood, Airbnb, Slack, and Ipsy.
Scott Stanford
Stanford co-founded ACME Capital (formally Sherpa Capital) in 2018. He is involved in many companies as a board member, such as Silicon Foundry and ipsy. He has a master's degree in business administration and general management from Harvard Business School. Prior to ACME, he was previously the Global Head of Internet and New Media for Goldman Sachs.
Felicis Ventures
Felicis Ventures is based in Menlo Park, founded in 2006 by Aydin Senkut. Since 2006, the firm has made investments in companies such as Acompli (acquired by Microsoft) and Bonobos (acquired by Walmart).
Aydin Senkut
Prior to founding Felicis Ventures in 2006, he gained experience from working at Google as a product manager, later sales manager, and senior management positions. He is part of many firms as an investor. He has been on the Forbes Midas List for 9 years and is an early investor in Shopify.
Twitter: @asenkut
Index Ventures
Index Ventures began in 1996, based in San Francisco, California and founded by Neil Rimer, David Rimer, and Giuseppe Zocco. They have invested in the companies Facebook, Just Eat, Skype, Dropbox, Trello, and Asos.
Danny Rimer
Since 2002, Rimer has been a partner at Index Ventures. Prior to this, he was a board member at companies Dropbox and Skype. He was on the Forbes Midas List at number three in 2020.
Twitter: @dannyrimer
Mike Volpi
Volpi has been at Index Ventures since 2009. Prior to this, he served on the board of directors at Cockroach Labs. He also served as senior vice president and GM at Cisco. He Invests primarily in AI, open-source, and Infrastructure companies.
Battery Ventures
Howard Anderson, Rick Frisbie, and Bob Barrett founded Battery Ventures in 1983 in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm focuses on technology-related companies. Some of their previous investments include HotelTonight and Glassdoor.
Neeraj Agrawal
Agrawal invests in internet companies across all stages and joined Battery Ventures in 2000. He is also present in many other companies as a board member, for example, Sprinklr and Bazaarvoice. He has ranked in the Forbes Midas List for the past eleven consecutive years.
Twitter: @NeerajVC
Forerunner Ventures
Kirsten Green founded Forerunner Ventures in 2009, and the firm made investments that include Birchbox, Bonobos, and Warby Parker. The company focuses on seed, early, and late-stage investments.
Kirsten Green
Kirsten has been a founding partner at Forerunner Ventures since 2012 where she made investments in Glossier and Warby Parker. Prior to this, she was vice president of Banc of America Securities LLC and a senior accountant at Deloitte.
Twitter: @kirstenagreen
Founder Collective
In 2009 David Frankel founded Founder Collective with the purpose of investing in IT companies, SaaS, software, hardware, etc. So far the firm has made investments in companies such as HotelTonight, and Venmo.
Eric Paley
Paley serves as managing partner at Founder Collective and he has been at the company since 2009. He holds a master's degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He was in the top 10 tech investors in 2020 coming in at number nine and helped Founder Collectives seed investment into Uber.
Twitter: @epaley
Floodgate
This venture fund was originally named the Floodgate Fund, and was founded in 2010 by Mike Maples Jr. and Ann Miura-Ko. They invest in companies in Silicon Valley that are related to the technology industry. A few of their previous investments include Okta and Chegg.
Mike Maples, Jr.
Maples has been a partner at Floodgate since 2006. He has been on the Forbes Midas list for eight years (2010-2018) and was also mentioned in Fortune Magazine's "8 rising stars." Some of his investments include Twitter and Bazaarvoice.
Twitter: @m2jr
Ann Miura-Ko
Miura-Ko co-founded Floodgate in 2008. Prior to this she worked at McKinsey&Co as a senior business analyst for three years. She holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University in Quantitative Modeling of Computer Security. She is also a co-director of the Mayfield Fellows Program at Stanford University.
Twitter: @annimaniac
Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners was founded in 1911 in Menlo Park, California. They invest in technology companies at seed, early stage and growth stages with a focus on the consumer and healthcare industries. A few of their notable investments include Skype, Spotify, and LinkedIn.
Byron Deeter
Since 2005, Deeter has been an active partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. He focuses on cloud, mobile, and other technology-related companies. He was previously CEO of Trigo Technologies, one of the first global SaaS companies.
Twitter: @bdeeter
Jeremy Levine
Apart from being a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners since 2001, Levine is a board member at Pinterest (2011), Wikia (2006), and Shopify (2011). He also led the investment in LinkedIn from 2006 to 2013. In recent years, his focus has been on companies outside the USA.
Twitter: @jeremyl
GGV Capital
GGV Capital is based in Menlo Park, California and has existed since 2000. They focus on many different staged companies from seed to growth categories. Their investments include Alibaba Group, Pandora, Slack.
Hans Tung
Tung has been at GGV Capital for more than eight years and is now managing partner. Next to the venture firm he is also a board member at musical.ly, Wish, and Poshmark. For two years, he was an associate at Bessemer Venture Partners. Tung is a ten-time Forbes Midas lister.
Twitter: @hanstung
8VC
8VC is a young VC founded in 2015 by Alex Kolicich, Drew Oetting, Jake Medwell, Joe Lonsdale, and Kimmy Scotti. Their previous investments include companies such as Wish and Assembly.
Joe Lonsdale
Lonsdale is among the early investors of Wish and Synthego. He was listed in the Forbes 100 Midas List in 2016 and 2017 and was the youngest member ever to be listed at the time. He founded Palantir, a multi-billion dollar software company specializing in data analytics.
Twitter: @JTLonsdale
Andreessen Horowitz
Andreessen Horowitz was founded in 2009 and is based in Menlo Park, California. In 2011, Andreessen Horowitz was ranked as the best VC firm by Investor Rank and ranked as the most influential investor by CNET in 2011. The firm invests in industries such as gaming, mobile, and e-commerce. Their portfolio includes companies such as Airbnb, BuzzFeed, and Facebook.
Marc Andreessen
Apart from founding Andreessen Horowitz, e also co-founded Loudcloud, which as Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. Horowitz, along with Andreessen, founded Andreessen Horowitz in 2009. He also co-founded one of the first widely used web browsers, Netscape.
Twitter: @pmarca
Jeff Jordan
Jordan has been a managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz. He is actively present as a member of the board at Airbnb, Pinterest, and more. Back in 2004, he was the president of PayPal until 2006. He is ranked number 20 among the top tech investors in 2020 according to Forbes.
Twitter: @jeff_jordan
Peter Levine
Levine is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, investing in enterprise. He joined in 2010 and has been active ever since. Besides Andreessen Horowitz, he is also a management lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Ben Horowitz
Horowitz is a co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. Prior to this, he was the vice president and general manager at Hewlett-Packard and president, and CEO at Opsware for over eight years. He was number four on the Forbes Midas list in 2020.
Twitter: @bhorowitz
General Atlantic
General Atlantic is one of the leading growth firms, founded in 1980. Since its existence, they have had many representative investments such as Facebook and Lenovo.
Anton Levy
Levy is the Global Head of the Technology Sector, Co-President, and Managing Director at General Atlantic. He focuses on investments in media, internet, and technology. He has a BS in Commerce, with a concentration in Finance & Management Information Systems and a minor in Computer Science from the University of Virginia, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Tiger Global Management
Chase Coleman founded Tiger Global Management in 2001 with headquarters in New York City. The firm had made investments in Facebook and Eventbrite.
Scott Shleifer
Shleifer joined Tiger Global Management in 2002 and was a managing director until becoming a partner in 2003. He co-founded the private equity investing arm of Tiger Gobal management in 2003.
John Curtius
Prior to joining Tiger Global Management, Curtius was part of Elliott Management Corporation and served as a Senior Associate at Silver Lake. he has led 250 venture investments at Tiger Global. His IPO's include Asana, Confluent, Samsara, and SentinelOne, among others.
Khosla Ventures
Vinod Khosla founded Khosla Ventures in 2004 in Menlo Park, California. They are focused on companies in the early stage related to healthcare, biotechnology, cleantech, computing, etc. In total, they have had 145 exits including Guardant Health and Okta.
Vinod Khosla
Khosla founded Khosla Ventures in 2004. He prefers to invest in startups related to cleantech, information technology but also robotics. Prior to founding his own venture firm, he worked at Kleiner Perkins for over 18 years.
Twitter: @vkhosla
David Weiden
Weiden joined Khosla Ventures in 2006 as a founding partner and managing director. Prior to this he was an analyst at Morgan Stanley and has been on the Midas List ten times before dropping off in 2020.
Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners was founded in 1995 by Jeff Horing and Jerry Murdock. The company is based in New York, NY. Representative investments include Tumblr and the Alibaba Group.
Deven Parekh
Parekh has been at Insight Venture Partners since 2000 and is a managing director. He invests in consumer internet, e-commerce, and data. He has been selected by the U.S. Senate to become a member of the board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
Twitter: @djparekh
Jeffrey Lieberman
Prior to joining Insight Venture Partners in 1998, he worked at McKinsey&Co as a business analyst. Lieberman was included in Forbes Midas List of the Top Tech Investors in 2018 investing in SaaS and e-commerce companies. In 2020 he ranked number 45.
Foresite Capital
Foresite Capital was founded in 2011 by James B. Tananbaum and is based in San Francisco, California. Among their notable investments is 10x Genomics.
Jim Tananbaum
Tananbaum founded Foresite Capital Management in 2011 where he operates as the CEO. Prior to this, he co-founded a VC firm Prospect Venture Partners focused on healthcare investments.
Twitter: @JTananbaum
TCV
In 1995 Jay Hoag and Rick Kimball founded TCV, based in San Francisco, Silicon Valley. They have made investments in internet and software companies such as Airbnb, Facebook, and Spotify, and financial tech companies like Payoneer.
Woody Marshall
Marshall has operated as a general partner at TCV since 2008 and serves as an investor at Airbnb and Spotify where he has been a board member since 2015. He primarily focuses on the fintech and entertainment industries.
Twitter: @woodymarshall
Nari Ansari
Ansari is a general partner at TCV, having joined in 2006 first as an associate. He focuses on investments in fintech, healthcare, IT, and software. Prior to TCV, he worked at Mckinsey & Company as a Business Analyst.
Redpoint Ventures
Redpoint Ventures was founded in 1999 in Menlo Park, California. Geoff Yang, Brad Jones, Timothy Haley, John Walecka, Jeff Brody, and Tom Dyal founded the firm. Among their investments, you can find Netflix, JustEat, and Answers.com.
Geoff Yang
Yang has been a founder and partner at Redpoint Ventures since 1999. He is also a board member at Scribd and also worked as a board member at MySpace in 2005 for less than a year.
Twitter: @geoff_yang
Satish Dharmaraj
Dharmaraj is a managing director at Redpoint Ventures and invests in companies related to consumer tech and enterprise. He was on Forbes Midas List as a Top Tech Investor in 2016, later dropping off in 2017.
Twitter: @satishd
General Catalyst
General Catalyst was established in 2000. The founders are Bill Fitzgerald, David Fialkow, David Orfao, and Joel Cutler. Previously they invested in companies such as Snapchat, Grammarly, KAYAK, Airbnb, and Deliveroo.
Hemant Taneja
Taneja has been a managing director at General Catalyst since 2002 and has supported companies such as Airbnb and Warby Parker. He is a board member at Samsara, Inc., Stripe, and Grammarly. He is number 31 on the Forbes Midas List for 2020.
Twitter: @htaneja
Joel Cutler
Now a managing partner, Cutler joined General Catalyst in 2000. He was included in Forbes Midas List in the Top Tech Investors but has since dropped off in 2020.
Twitter: @jcut
Foundry Groups
Foundry Groups was founded in 2007 and is based in Boulder, Colorado. The founders include Brad Feld, Jason Mendelson, Ryan McIntyre, and Seth Levine. The firm focuses on investments in the technology industry. They have invested in companies like Fitbit and Zynga.
Bradley Feld
Feld co-founded Foundry Group and Techstars in 2006 and is managing director at Intensity Ventures (since 1995) and Mobius Venture Capital (since 2001). Prior to this, he was a president at Feld Technologies. He has also written books on venture capital investing and entrepreneurship.
Twitter: @bfeld
DFJ
DFJ was founded in 1985 by Tim Draper in collaboration with John Fisher. The firm is based in Menlo Park, California. They have invested in Giphy, Skype, Twitter, and many more.
Randy Glein
Glein has been a part of DFJ since 2002 as a partner and a co-founder of DJO Growth. He prefers to invest in companies related to technology and media and he was an investor at Twitter for four years, and at Tumblr for two years. His portfolio also includes a notable investment in SpaceX.
Twitter: @rglein
Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners was established in 1961 and is based in Palo Alto, California. Throughout these years they made many investments and have notable exits such as Uber and Lending Club.
Jeffrey Crowe
Crowe is a managing partner at Norwest Venture Partners where he has worked since 2004. For six consecutive years, Crowe has made the Forbes Midas List but has since fallen off in 2020. He has over 20 years CEO and executive experience under his belt. Crowe is also a Member of the Board of Trustees at Dartmouth College.
Twitter: @jeffmcrowe
True Ventures
John Burke, Jon Callaghan, Phil Black, Toni Schneider, and Tony Conrad founded True Ventures in 2006. The firm is based in Silicon Valley, California. They have invested in Fitbit, Duo Security, Ring, and many more.
Jon Callaghan
Callaghan founded True Ventures in 2006 and has been in the venture capital arena since 1991. He is an expert in general management and holds a degree from Harvard Business School. He focuses primarily on early-stage tech companies.
Twitter: @jcal7
Tony Conrad
Conrad is a member of the founding team at True Venture and is a partner since 2005. He invests in startup businesses, technology-related companies, and the consumer internet. He is a board director at Automattic (Wordpress). He is also the founder of about.me, where he served as CEO.
Twitter: @tonysphere
OrbiMed Advisors
OrbiMed Advisors is based in New York, and was founded in 1989 with the purpose of investing in companies related to healthcare. They have invested in Alector, Harpoon Therapeutics, Avedro, and many more.
Carl Gordon
Gordon serves as a managing partner at OrbiMed Advisors. He joined the firm in 1995, and invests in biotech and pharmaceutical companies, as he holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology. He ranked fourth on Forbes Midas List: Top Tech Investors 2018 and remained on the list in 2020 at number 77.
Jonathan Silverstein
Silverstein has been at the firm OrbiMed for over 22 years. Currently he is an executive partner. He focuses on investments that are related to healthcare, biotechnology, and medical devices. He is the President of the Silverstein Foundation which invests in Parkinson's Disease research.
DCM
DCM was founded in 1996 and has offices in Silicon Valley, Beijing, and Tokyo. The firm made notable investments in Chia and Button.
David Chao
Chao is a general partner and a co-founder at DCM Ventures. Prior to founding the venture firm, he worked at McKinsey&Co as a management consultant. He uses his experience at Apple to guide his portfolio companies through product marketing and corporate strategies.
Aspect Ventures
Aspect Ventures was founded in 2014 and is located in Palo Alto, California. The founders are Jennifer Fonstad and Theresia Gouw. Their investments include HotelTonight and TalkIQ.
Theresia Gouw
Prior to becoming a founding partner at Aspect Ventures, Gouw was a managing partner at Accel Partners for 15 years. In 2019, she left Aspect to co-found Acrew Capital. She invests in security software and mobile software.
Twitter: @tgr
Artis Ventures (AV)
In 2001 Mike Harden and Stuart Peterson founded AV with the purpose of investing in seed, early, and late-stage companies. Mentionable investments include Facebook and YouTube.
Stuart Peterson
Peterson has been part of Artis Ventures since 2001 as a co-founder and managing partner. He holds a Master of BA from the University of Chicago and led early investments in YouTube for Artis Ventures.
Breyer Capital
Jim Breyer founded Breyer Capital in 2006 based in Menlo Park, California. Among the investments are Facebook, Etsy, and Datalogix.
Jim Breyer
Prior to becoming the CEO and founder of Breyer Capital, he was an assistant product manager at Apple for a year, an investor and board member at Marvel Entertainment, and a board member at Walmart, Dell, and 21st Century Fox. For over 28 years he worked at Accel Partners. Since 2005, he has been an investor and board member at Facebook.
Twitter: @jimihendrixlive
IVP
IVP has existed since 1980, founded by Reid Dennis. Based in Menlo Park, California, they have made many investments such as Netflix, Twitter, Dropbox, and DoubleVerify.
Todd Chaffee
Chaffee has been at IVP since 2000 where he works as a managing director and partner. He made it to sixth place on the Forbes Midas List of the Top 10 Founder VCs, and has made every Forbes Midas List for nine consecutive years before dropping off in 2019. He has notable investments under his belt, such as Twitter, Netflix, and Yahoo.
Twitter: @tclaytonchaffee
Jules Maltz
Maltz has been an investor at IVP since 2008. He invests in software and internet companies. He is also an investor at Slack and Dropbox. He has been on the Forbes Midas List for three consecutive years and serves as a board observer at Grammarly.
Twitter: @JulesMaltz
Uncork Capital
In 2004 with headquarter in Palo Alto, California Uncork Capital was founded by Jeff Clavier. The firm has made investments in Fitbit, Eventbrite, and many other companies.
Jeff Clavier
For over 18 years, Clavier has worked at Uncork Capital, where he is a managing partner and founding member. He was educated in France and has a Masters's degree in Computer Science. He mainly focuses on mobile, cloud, and consumer services-related companies.
Twitter: @jeff
Mayfield Fund
Mayfield Fund was founded in 1969, and is based in Menlo Park, California. Some notable investments include ServiceMax and Crunchbase.
Navin Chaddha
Chaddha has worked at the Mayfield Fund since 2006 and is managing director. Prior to this, he founded companies such as VXtreme that was acquired by Microsoft. He also worked at Microsoft as Chief Architect and Director. He has ranked on the Forbes Midas List of Top 100 Tech Investors 14 times and was top 5 in 2020 and 2022.
Bain Capital Ventures
Bain Capital Ventures is the venture arm of Bain Capital. They are based in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm focuses on investments in software-related companies. Notable deals include Jet.com, LinkedIn, Dynatrace, Redis Labs, and Sysdig.
Salil Deshpande
Deshpande has been a Managing director at Bain Capital Ventures for seven years and left in 2020. He is now a General Partner at Uncorrelated Ventures. He invests in open source and infrastructure software and fintech. He has been on the Forbes Midas List of the top 100 investors for seven years up to 2019 and once again in 2022.
Twitter: @salil
Scott Friend
Friend has been a partner at Bain Capital Venture since 2006 after he sold ProfitLogic, a company he co-founded. He serves as a board member at many companies such as Flow.io and Persado. He primarily focuses on investments in retail-related technologies.
Twitter: @sfriend37
Ribbit Capital
Ribbit Capital was founded in 2012 by Meyer Malka. The company is based in Palo Alto, California. So far the firm has made investments that include Funding Circle and more.
Meyer Malka
Prior to joining Ribbit Capital in 2012 as managing partner and founder, Malka was a board member at Bitcoin Foundation and an investor at Coinbase. He primarily invests in tech and financial services.
Twitter: @mickymalka
FirstMark Capital
FirstMark Capital is based in New York, NY and was founded by Amish Jani, Lawrence Lenihan and Rick Heitzmann in 2008. The firm has made investments that include companies such as Shopify, Pinterest, and Airbnb.
Rick Heitzmann
Heitzmann is a managing director and co-founder at FirstMark Capital (from 2008). He is focused on companies related to consumer technology (e-commerce, video games). He was a lead investor in Pinterest and has also invested in Airbnb. He was number 50 on the Forbes Midas List in 2020.
Twitter: @rick
Wing Venture Capital
Gaurav Garg and Peter Wagner founded Wing Venture Capital in 2013 with the purpose of investing in technology companies. They have made investment in FireEye and Clear Labs to name a few.
Gaurav Garg
Since 2011, Gard has been a part of Wing Venture Capital, and is a founding partner. He is also on the board of Clear Labs and Shape Security. He was previously at Sequoia Capital as an investor until leaving in 2012.
Harrison Metal
Harrison Metal was founded in 2008 with the purpose of investing in technology-related companies at an early stage. The founder is Michael Dearing and the firm is based in San Francisco, California. The firm has made many notable investments such as Birchbox and Signal Sciences.
Michael Dearing
Dearing founded Harrison Metal in 2006, and invests in technology companies. He was previously a Senior Vice President & General Merchandise Manager at eBay. Earlier in his career, Dearing held operating and strategy roles at Industrial Shoe Warehouse, the Walt Disney Company, and Bain & Company among others.
Twitter: @mcgd
Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
Hummer Winblad Venture Partners was founded in 1989 by Ann Winblad and John Hummer, a professional basketball player, in San Francisco, California. They made investments in MuleSoft, Adforce, and many more.
Ann Winblad
Winblad is a co-founder of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and a managing partner. The company was one of the first to invest in software. She is currently a director at OptiMine Software and was previously a director at Ace Metrix until 2020.
IA Ventures
In 20010, Brad Gillespie and Roger Ehrenberg established IA Ventures, investing in fintech companies. Flatiron Health and Simple are among their investments.
Roger Ehrenberg
Ehrenberg has been a founding partner at IA Ventures since 2009. He focuses on advertising, financial technology, and media. He gained a great deal of experience working on Wall Street for 17 years and is on the board and director at various companies, such as TransferWise.
Twitter: @infoarbitrage
Madrona Venture Group
Madrona Venture Group was founded by Paul Goodrich and Tom Alberg in 1995 with the purpose of investing in companies at their seed, early and late stages and is based in Seattle. They have invested in Amazon.com but among their notable investments, we can also find Redfin and Smartsheet.
Matt Mcilwain
Mcilwain joined Madrona Venture Group in 2000 and is now managing director. He mostly invests in software companies related to cloud and mobile applications. Prior to joining the venture firm, he was a Board Member and Chairman at Fred Hutch and an engagement manager at McKinsey&Co from 1992 to 1996.
Scale Venture Partners
Scale Venture Partners has existed since 2000 and is based in Foster City, California. The firm focuses on companies related to technology and SaaS. They have made investments in Box.com and Unbabel.
Rory O'Driscoll
O'Driscoll has been a partner at Scale Venture Partners for 28 years. He focuses on enterprise software, SaaS, and consumer technology investments. He is on the board of numerous companies, notably Pantheon Platform.
Twitter: @rodriscoll
Adams Capital Management
ACM was established in 1994 in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. They mainly focus on the applied technology sector. A notable investment includes Dell.
Joel P. Adams
Adams founded the firm in 1994. Prior to this, he was the vice president and general partner at a family-owned firm called Fostin Capital Corporation. He has also worked as a nuclear test engineer for a company called General Dynamics.
Alsop Louie Partners
The San Francisco-based firm was founded by Gilman Louie and Stewart Alsop in 2006. Alsop Louie Partners invests in industries such as consumer tech, fintech, and digital media. A few of their investments that are worth mentioning are Twitch and Sapho.
Gilman Louie
Besides becoming a partner at Alsop Louie Partners in 2006, he was previously the CEO of In-Q-Tel, a venture fund that worked closely with the CIA. He helped to develop the F-16 fighter jet simulation and licensed Tetris. Louie attended Harvard Business School through an AMP (Advanced Management Program).
Twitter: @gglouie
Stewart Alsop
Along with Gilman Louie, the two founded Alsop Louie in January 2006. Prior to this, Alsop was a general partner at New Enterprise Associates for over 10 years and has also served on the board of directors at Sonos.
Twitter: @salsop
Ignite Venture Partners
Ignite Venture Partners has existed since 2003 and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Among their portfolio companies, you can find Embark and WeMeUs.
Landon Pollack
Since 2004 Pollack has been a part of the firm Ignite Venture Partners and is a managing partner. Before turning 20, Landon Pollack had already founded four companies.
B Capital Group
B Capital Group was founded in 2015 by Eduardo Saverin, Howard Morgan, and Raj Ganguly. They have made investments in AiMotive, CapitalMatch, and Bird.
Raj Ganguly
Ganguly co-founded B Capital Group in 2015, where he serves as a partner. Currently, he is also a senior advisor at The Boston Consulting Group. Prior to this, he worked as a senior vice president at Bain Capital for six years and senior manager at McKinsey&Co for three years. He holds an M.B.A from Harvard University.
Twitter: @rajganguly_
Venture capital funding companies
From Sequoia Capital to Greylock Partners, this article lists some of the best VC firms the US has to offer, as well as the mighty talents who help run these mammoth firms.
These VCs are known for financially backing and funding companies at their very early stages. They provide guidance and support for those with high potential for growth.
