DST Global
About DST Global
DST Global was founded in 2009 by Yuri Milner as a spinoff from Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian internet company that became Mail.ru Group and later VK. Its co-founders are Saurabh Gupta, John Lindfors, Rahul Mehta and Tom Stafford. Per LinkedIn, the firm has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Beijing and Hong Kong. Tracxn lists a team of about 32 people, 12 of them partners, including Dean Prissman, Kaizad Gotla and Michael Chen. On AI, Saurabh Gupta (San Francisco) is the most visible partner. His LinkedIn posts discuss AI inference demand and AI memory and personalization. He also lists Waymo, Harvey, Periodic Labs and Ricursive among his investments. DST has not published fund sizes. Aggregator figures differ, so none are given here.
DST usually joins late-stage rounds in companies that are already scaling, and AI is one of several sectors it covers alongside fintech, marketplaces and enterprise software. Its AI history includes the $1B Series A for Safe Superintelligence in 2024, a round it took part in alongside Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia. On the Lounge deals desk it is marked as lead on Waymo's $16B growth round (2026-02), Prometheus's $12B Series B (2026-04), OpenEvidence's $250M Series D (2026-01) and Higgsfield AI's $400M Series B (2026-08). It also led a $55M Clay tender offer (2026-01). It joined Mistral AI's $2B Series C (2025-09) and Clay's $115M Series D (2026-09). It has made some early bets too: Monogram's $40M seed (2026-06, led) and Fluency's $6M seed (2026-02).
Wikipedia describes the firm as primarily investing in late-stage internet companies. DST does not publish a check size policy. Third-party estimates put typical checks at roughly $15M to $200M (NFX Signal) or $20M to $200M (Superscout). Treat these as estimates, not firm statements. Its AI rounds on Lounge range from $6M seeds to multi-billion-dollar growth rounds, so seed participation is rare and growth rounds are the core of its AI activity.
- Safe Superintelligence: AI lab founded by Ilya Sutskever; $1B Series A in 2024
- Mistral AI: foundation model developer; $2B Series C in 2025
- Waymo: autonomous driving; $16B growth round in 2026, DST led
- OpenEvidence: $250M Series D in 2026, DST led
- Higgsfield AI: $400M Series B in 2026, DST led
- Prometheus: $12B Series B in 2026, DST led
- Clay: $115M Series D and a $55M tender offer, both 2026
- Monogram: $40M seed in 2026, DST led
Investing activity
DST Global appears in 11 AI deals tracked by the AI Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $31.9B, and led 6 of them. The rounds are mostly Seed, Series D and Series B, with a median round size of $400M and the largest at $16B. The most recent are Sabi (Seed, $50M, Oct 2026), Clay (Series D, $115M, Sep 2026) and Higgsfield AI (Series B, $400M, Aug 2026).
DST Global most often invests alongside Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Accel and Conviction, and the companies it backs on AI Lounge are mostly in AI, Brain-computer interface for AI and Data Collection and Labeling.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about DST Global
Who founded DST Global?
Yuri Milner founded DST Global in 2009 as a spinoff from Digital Sky Technologies. Saurabh Gupta, John Lindfors, Rahul Mehta and Tom Stafford are the co-founders.
What AI companies has DST Global invested in?
They include Safe Superintelligence, Mistral AI, Waymo, OpenEvidence, Higgsfield AI, Prometheus, Clay and Monogram. Saurabh Gupta's LinkedIn also lists Harvey, Periodic Labs and Ricursive.
What check size does DST Global write?
DST does not publish one. Third-party databases estimate about $15M to $200M per check, mostly in late-stage rounds.
Does DST Global invest in seed-stage AI startups?
Rarely. Its focus is late-stage companies, though Lounge shows it leading a $40M Monogram seed in 2026 and joining a $6M Fluency seed in 2026.
Who at DST Global leads AI investing?
Saurabh Gupta, a co-founder based in San Francisco, is the partner most often tied to its AI deals. DST has not published a formal list of AI deal leads.
Where is DST Global based?
DST Global is based in Hong Kong / London.
What stage does DST Global invest at?
In the rounds tracked on AI Lounge, DST Global has invested at Seed, Series D, Series B and Growth, with a median round of $400M. DST Global led 6 of those rounds.
Who does DST Global co-invest with?
DST Global's most frequent co-investors on AI Lounge are Sequoia Capital (3 deals), Andreessen Horowitz (3 deals), Accel (2 deals), Conviction (2 deals) and Khosla Ventures (1 deal).
How can founders reach DST Global?
Founders on AI Lounge can see DST Global'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 DST Global to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.