Foundation Capital
About Foundation Capital
Wikipedia lists Foundation Capital as founded in October 1995 by Bill Elmore, Kathryn Gould and Jim Anderson. The firm scaled its funds down after 2008, when a $750 million fund was cut to $282 million in 2013, and later rebuilt. It raised a $500 million tenth fund in 2022 and an $600 million eleventh fund in March 2025, the latter about 20% larger than its predecessor. General partner Steve Vassallo has been the public voice on the firm's AI investing, including in a Crunchbase interview. Reported headcount is about 29 to 30 people.
Foundation describes its approach as investing before a product exists, in founders it calls technically deep, around what it terms zero-billion-dollar markets. Its AI activity runs through that early-stage strategy rather than a separate AI fund. Public examples include Cerebras, where the firm was an early backer, and Aegis AI, an email security company that uses AI agents and raised a $36M Series A in July 2026. The Lounge deals desk also logs recent AI seed rounds led or joined by the firm, including SciFin ($44M, September 2026), RadiantOps ($7M, September 2026) and Dextr AI ($6.7M, September 2026).
Foundation is an early-stage investor. TechCrunch reports that it aims to own 15% to 20% of a company when it first invests, and that it is the first institutional investor in more than 70% of its portfolio companies. The f4.fund directory lists check sizes of $1M to $20M across pre-seed, seed and Series A. Tracxn reports an average seed round size of $7.14M across the seed deals it tracks, which describes rounds, not the firm's own checks.
- Cerebras: early investment by Foundation, noted in TechCrunch's coverage of the 2025 fund; later round sizes are not in these sources.
- Aegis AI: email security platform using AI agents to analyze messages; $36.0M Series A, July 2026 (VCBacked).
- SkyPilot: AI seed round of $20M, July 2026 (Lounge deals desk).
- Pulse Security: AI seed round of $8M, July 2026, marked as led by the firm (Lounge deals desk).
- RadiantOps: AI seed round of $7M, September 2026, marked as led by the firm (Lounge deals desk).
- foundationcapital.com/announcing-fund-11
- techcrunch.com/2025/03/04/foundation-capital-an-early-backer-of-solana
- news.crunchbase.com/venture/ai-foundation-capital-11th-fund-vassallo
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_Capital
- f4.fund/firms/foundation-capital
- vcbacked.co/directory/investors/foundation-capital/artificial-intellig
- tracxn.com/d/venture-capital/foundation-capital/**6tLPcP3vvev15-ido6UU
- linkedin.com/company/foundation-capital
Investing activity
Foundation Capital appears in 8 AI deals tracked by the AI Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $64M, and led 4 of them. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $7M and the largest at $44M. The most recent are Dextr AI (Seed, $6.7M, Sep 2026), RadiantOps (Seed, $7M, Sep 2026) and SciFin (Seed, $44M, Sep 2026).
Foundation Capital most often invests alongside Zetta Venture Partners, Elevation Capital, MKT1 and Vermilion Cliffs Ventures, and the companies it backs on AI Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Foundation Capital
When was Foundation Capital founded?
Foundation Capital was founded in October 1995 and is based in Palo Alto, California. Its founders are listed as Bill Elmore, Kathryn Gould and Jim Anderson.
How large is Foundation Capital's latest fund?
Its eleventh fund closed at $600 million and was announced in March 2025. The predecessor tenth fund raised $500 million in 2022.
Does Foundation Capital invest in AI startups?
Yes. AI companies appear across its portfolio, including Aegis AI and several AI seed rounds logged on the Lounge deals desk in 2026. VCBacked lists 54 AI companies it has funded.
What stages does Foundation Capital invest in?
Directory listings show pre-seed, seed and Series A as its stages, with check sizes reported between $1M and $20M. The firm has said it aims to own 15% to 20% of a company at its first investment.
Which AI companies are in the Foundation Capital portfolio?
Examples in public sources include Cerebras, Aegis AI, SkyPilot, Pulse Security, RadiantOps and Dextr AI. Tracxn tracks more than 460 portfolio companies in total.
What AI companies has Foundation Capital invested in?
Foundation Capital's AI investments include Dextr AI, RadiantOps, SciFin, Joymore, SkyPilot, Pulse Security, Prolo and Hobbes. The 8 rounds on AI Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Foundation Capital based?
Foundation Capital is based in Palo Alto, California, United States.
What stage does Foundation Capital invest at?
In the rounds tracked on AI Lounge, Foundation Capital has invested at Seed, with a median round of $7M. Foundation Capital led 4 of those rounds.
Who does Foundation Capital co-invest with?
Foundation Capital's most frequent co-investors on AI Lounge are Zetta Venture Partners (2 deals), Elevation Capital (1 deal), MKT1 (1 deal), Vermilion Cliffs Ventures (1 deal) and Vela Partners (1 deal).
How can founders reach Foundation Capital?
Founders on AI Lounge can see Foundation Capital'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 Foundation Capital to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.