Avenir
About Avenir
Growth-stage investor that co-led Cognition's 2026 Series E.
Andrew Sugrue and Jamie Reynolds founded Avenir in 2017. The firm is based in New York and has an 11 to 50 person team. Crunchbase lists Jared Sleeper as a partner. He was previously at Steadview Capital and Matrix. The firm's site and third-party directories also list Paul Light as a partner and name other investors, including David Prilutsky and Hannah Bao. Avenir describes its approach as building concentrated portfolios of category-defining companies. It says it backs founders early in their growth curve, and it emphasises in-house research and co-invest opportunities for its LPs. Sources do not say which partner leads AI deals specifically, and no fund sizes were found in public sources.
Avenir does not run a separate AI strategy. It describes a thesis built around technology shifts, and AI companies sit inside a broader portfolio that also covers fintech, defense, energy and consumer. Seedtable counts 7 of Avenir's deals under Artificial Intelligence. On the Lounge deals desk, Avenir led the $20M Inference Research seed round in February 2026 and is recorded as leading Cognition's $2B Series E in September 2026. Press coverage of the Cognition round names Andreessen Horowitz and Accel as leads, so sources differ on Avenir's role. Caplight lists Avenir as a co-investor in Cognition's Series D in May 2026. Seedtable marks Avenir as lead on the Mytra Series C (January 2026) and the Hippocratic AI Series C (November 2025).
Avenir calls itself a growth equity firm, and most of its recent disclosed rounds are Series B and later. Examples include Ramp's Series F in June 2026 and Chai Discovery's Series C in July 2026. It has also led an AI seed round, Inference Research. Check sizes are not published by the firm. Directory estimates conflict: one lists $300K to $5M and another lists $5M to $50M. Founders should treat those figures as unconfirmed.
- Cognition: AI software engineering company behind Devin. Avenir was a co-investor in the Series D (May 2026) and took part in the $2B Series E (September 2026).
- Inference Research: seed round of $20M led by Avenir (February 2026), per the Lounge deals desk.
- Hippocratic AI: Series C of $126M (November 2025), listed as led by Avenir.
- Mytra: Series C of $120M (January 2026), listed as led by Avenir.
- Chai Discovery: Series B of $130M (December 2025) and Series C (July 2026), with Avenir participating.
- Physical Intelligence and Sesame AI: listed in Avenir's portfolio on PitchBook-derived directories. Round details are not public in the sources found.
- crunchbase.com/organization/avenir-growth-capital
- seedtable.com/investors/avenir-growth-capital
- caplight.com/investor/avenir-growth-capital
- linkedin.com/company/avenir-growth-capital
- startuphub.ai/investment_rounds/cognition-ai-series-e-2026
- finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/cognition-ai-valued-48bn-2bn-
- allbusiness.africa/investors/avenir-growth-capital
- f4.fund/firms/avenir-growth-capital
Investing activity
Avenir appears in 3 AI deals tracked by the AI Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $3.02B, and led 3 of them. The rounds are mostly Growth, Series E and Seed, with a median round size of $1B and the largest at $2B. The most recent are Physical Intelligence (Series round (reported talks), $1B, Oct 2026), Cognition (Series E, $2B, Sep 2026) and Inference Research (Seed, $20M, Feb 2026).
Avenir most often invests alongside Lux Capital, CapitalG, Thrive Capital and Jeff Bezos, and the companies it backs on AI Lounge are mostly in Robotics foundation models, AI coding agents and AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Avenir
Who founded Avenir and when?
Andrew Sugrue and Jamie Reynolds founded Avenir in 2017. The firm is based in New York.
Does Avenir invest in AI startups?
Yes. Its AI investments include Cognition, Hippocratic AI, Mytra and Chai Discovery, and it led the Inference Research seed round in February 2026.
What check size does Avenir write?
Avenir does not publish check sizes. Third-party directories give conflicting ranges, from $300K to $5M and from $5M to $50M.
What stage does Avenir invest at?
Avenir is a growth equity firm and mostly joins Series B and later rounds. It has also led at least one AI seed round.
Who should AI founders contact at Avenir?
Avenir's site and directories list Jared Sleeper and Paul Light as partners, alongside co-founders Andrew Sugrue and Jamie Reynolds. The firm has not said which partner leads AI deals.
What AI companies has Avenir invested in?
Avenir's AI investments include Physical Intelligence, Cognition and Inference Research. The 3 rounds on AI Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Avenir based?
Avenir is based in New York, US.
Who does Avenir co-invest with?
Avenir's most frequent co-investors on AI Lounge are Lux Capital (1 deal), CapitalG (1 deal), Thrive Capital (1 deal), Jeff Bezos (1 deal) and General Catalyst (1 deal).
How can founders reach Avenir?
Founders on AI Lounge can see Avenir's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with the firm under Warm Paths, and add Avenir to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.