Foundation Capital

What Foundation Capital does

Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm founded in 1996 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with a secondary office in San Francisco. The firm backs early-stage technical founders at the "day zero" stage, defined as the moment a company is just an idea and a determined founder — Foundation Capital reports it is the first investor in 4 of 5 portfolio companies and that 77% of investments are made when companies are pre-revenue. The firm operates three practice areas (enterprise, fintech, and crypto) with explicit conviction around two "foundational technologies" (AI and blockchain), and maintains a portfolio of 111 companies that includes Cerebras, Stripe, Lending Club, Sunrun, Solana, Databricks, Cohesity, and Turing.

The firm does not develop a product technology stack but operates an integrated content and community platform comprising a corporate website, the B2BaCEO newsletter and podcast (for technical founders transitioning to CEO), the "AI in the Real World" podcast series, the "State of AI in Design" research collection, the portfolio job board (powered by Getro, listing 111 portfolio companies), and the AI Unconference event (gathering 100+ researchers and founders in 2024). Its signature intellectual contribution is the December 2025 "context graphs" thesis, a published framework describing knowledge graphs that capture decision traces and reasoning to improve enterprise AI reasoning.

Foundation Capital generates revenue through standard venture fund economics: management fees on assets under management (most recently a $600 million fund closed in September 2025) and carried interest on portfolio exits. The firm reports $3 billion distributed to LPs since 2020, 37 IPOs across its 30-year history, and a flagship 19-year Cerebras relationship culminating in the May 2025 IPO at a ~$95 billion valuation, where Foundation Capital's ~7% stake was worth approximately $5.3 billion. The firm is led by General Partner Joanne Chen and partners Steve Vassallo, Ashu Garg, Jaya Gupta, Sid Trivedi, Charles Moldow, Lauri J. Moore, and Leo Lu.

Name

Foundation Capital

Legal name

Foundation Capital, LLC

Website

http://foundationcapital.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Foundation Capital is a 30-year-old Palo Alto venture capital firm that backs technical founders at the day-zero stage across enterprise AI, fintech, and crypto practices, with 37 IPOs, $3 billion distributed to LPs since 2020, and a recent $600 million fund close.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA), Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Early-stage startup funding
• AI venture capital
• Blockchain venture capital
• Fintech venture capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Fund management fees: Foundation Capital generates revenue through management fees on assets under management. The firm recently closed a new $600 million fund for early-stage technical startups, bringing significant AUM. The firm manages multiple funds including Foundation Capital Fund 9 and Leadership Fund 3 (referenced in EvolutionIQ acquisition announcement).
2. Carried interest on portfolio exits: Foundation Capital earns carried interest (typical VC carried interest) on exits from portfolio companies. The firm has distributed $3 billion since 2020 and counts 37 IPOs in its history. Notable exits include the Cerebras IPO (May 2025) where Foundation Capital's ~7% stake reached ~$5.3 billion, generating significant carry. Other exits include the sale of EvolutionIQ to CCC Intelligent Solutions for $730 million.
3. Strategic capital deployment across multiple funds: Foundation Capital invests across stages (seed, Series A, Series B, growth) and sectors, deploying capital from multiple funds. Investments include lead positions in Cerebras, Tennr, Lumber, Acuvity, Prime Security, and many others, with participation alongside other top-tier VCs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm that provides day-zero (pre-seed, seed, and Series A) equity capital to technical founders across three practice areas: enterprise (AI and deep tech), fintech, and crypto. The firm commits first term sheets to roughly 4 of every 5 portfolio companies, with 77% of investments made when the company is pre-revenue, and supports founders over multi-year horizons with board-level engagement, EIR office space, GTM coaching, customer introductions, and follow-on fundraising assistance.

Product overview

Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm rather than a software vendor, so its offering combines investor-facing services (early-stage venture investing, portfolio support) with a content platform comprising a corporate website, portfolio job board, and multiple editorial products. The core platform is the Foundation Capital website (foundationcapital.com), which hosts team, portfolio, and practice information alongside the Ideas publication. Layered on top are three recurring newsletter/podcast products — B2BaCEO, AI in the Real World, and Foundation Updates — and dedicated research collections such as the State of AI in Design series and the firm's Context Graphs thesis. The job board (jobs.foundationcapital.com) is operated on Getro's infrastructure and lists 111 portfolio companies (e.g., Arize AI, Anyscale, Anyscale, Ashby, Anvilogic, Anomalo, Arcade) where job seekers can apply to roles or join the talent network. Together these assets function as a single integrated platform-plus-modules architecture: the corporate site and Ideas publication are the core, the newsletters and podcasts are recurring content modules, the job board is a portfolio services module, and the Context Graphs research output is a periodic thought-leadership module.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• B2BaCEO: Foundation Capital's newsletter and podcast for technical founders on the path to CEO, hosted by partner Ashu Garg.
• AI in the Real World
• State of AI in Design
• Foundation

Products and services

• Early-stage venture capital funding Day-zero venture capital financing provided to pre-revenue and early-stage technical founders, including first term sheet writing, lead or participation positions in seed, Series A, and Series B rounds across AI, fintech, and crypto startups.
• Portfolio board-level support and EIR program Long-term, board-level strategic support and operational resources provided to portfolio companies, including EIR office space, GTM coaching, customer introductions, and follow-on fundraising assistance.
• Foundation Capital Job Board (jobs.foundationcapital.com) Talent network and job board for Foundation Capital's portfolio companies, enabling candidates to discover and apply to roles across the firm's 111 portfolio companies and join the talent network.

Quantifiable outcome

• First investor in 4 of 5 portfolio companies (80% first-check rate)
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers37 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered major ecosystem partner, strategic partner, strategic customer/partner and co-investor.

• Y Combinatormajor ecosystem partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerY Combinator is a frequent ecosystem partner with Foundation Capital. YC co-invested in Campfire alongside Foundation Capital, Accel, and Ribbit, and YC-backed companies like Eloquent AI, PlayerZero, and others have received Foundation Capital investment.
• Cross River Bankstrategic partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerCross River Bank is a strategic banking partner in the fintech ecosystem. Through portfolio company Current, Foundation Capital indirectly benefits from Cross River's expanded partnership for banking, payments, liquidity, and credit offerings.
• OpenAIstrategic customer/partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpenAI is a key strategic customer and partner of Cerebras (Foundation Capital's flagship portfolio company). Cerebras secured a $20 billion multi-year compute agreement with OpenAI in 2025, a relationship that materially contributed to Cerebras' IPO valuation. Sam Altman and Greg Brockman are pre-IPO investors in Cerebras.
• Pump.funco-investorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPump.fun led Pumpcade's $1M pre-seed round with Foundation Capital and angel investor RadioSolace participating. Pump.fun and Foundation Capital co-invest in crypto/Web3 infrastructure.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Benchmark: Early-stage venture capital firm with a similar partnership-driven model, equal co-investments, and day-zero technical-founder focus. Benchmark co-invested in Cerebras alongside Foundation Capital and shares the same brand and deal structure approach.
• Accel: Early-stage venture capital firm with similar stage focus on technical founders and recurring co-investment alongside Foundation Capital (e.g., Campfire Series A/B co-leads, AegisAI seed co-lead, Prime Security).
• Lightspeed Venture Partners: Multi-stage venture capital firm with strong early-stage AI and enterprise software practice that frequently co-invests with Foundation Capital in healthcare AI (Coral, Tennr) and AI infrastructure companies.
• Greylock Partners: Early-stage enterprise software venture capital firm with similar stage focus on technical founders building AI infrastructure and applications, comparable portfolio overlap in enterprise AI and developer tools.
• Battery Ventures: Early- and growth-stage venture capital firm focused on enterprise software, AI infrastructure, and deep tech with comparable stage focus and recurring co-investment activity alongside Foundation Capital (e.g., Arize AI Series C).
• Khosla Ventures: Early-stage venture capital firm with technical-founder focus that co-invests alongside Foundation Capital in AI applications (e.g., Regie.ai Series B) and shares a similar willingness to take bold day-zero technical bets.
• Bessemer Venture Partners: Early- and growth-stage venture capital firm with cloud and enterprise software focus. Bessemer co-invested in Jasper's Series A alongside Foundation Capital and shares similar stage coverage in AI applications and data infrastructure.
• IVP (Institutional Venture Partners): Late-stage venture capital firm that frequently co-invests alongside Foundation Capital in growth rounds (e.g., led Tennr's $101M Series C, participated in Jasper Series A) with strong enterprise AI and infrastructure focus.
• New Enterprise Associates (NEA): Large, multi-stage venture capital firm with early- and growth-stage activity. NEA co-invested with Foundation Capital in Anyscale (led Series B) and shares similar coverage in AI infrastructure and developer tools.

Broad incumbents

• Andreessen Horowitz: Mega-fund venture capital firm operating across stages, geographies, and asset classes. a16z is the most frequent co-investor with Foundation Capital across the portfolio (Cerebras, Tessera Labs, Anyscale, Tennr) but is significantly larger in AUM and headcount.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/FoundationCap
• Facebookfacebook.com/foundationcap
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/foundation-capital
• Instagraminstagram.com/foundationcapital

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments864 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Foundation Capital