Laude Ventures
About Laude Ventures
Laude Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2024, focused on investing in deeply technical entrepreneurs with research backgrounds. The firm aims to help founders transform their breakthroughs into successful companies by providing funding, mentorship, and access to industry networks. Laude Ventures closed its first fund, Laude Ventures Fund I, with $150 million in committed capital in December 2024.
The firm targets pre-seed and seed-stage investments, primarily in sectors such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Software Infrastructure, Developer Tools, Enterp
Laude Ventures was launched in December 2024 by three general partners: Andy Konwinski, Pete Sonsini and Andrew Krioukov. Konwinski co-founded Databricks and later co-founded Perplexity. Sonsini is a venture investor who backed Konwinski's earlier work. Krioukov is co-founder and CEO of the data security company Antimatter. Global Venturing reported that all three founders are UC Berkeley alumni and that the fund mostly backs founders from the university. The fund's investors include more than 50 computer scientists, among them Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Konwinski also committed $100 million to the Laude Institute, a separate nonprofit that gives grants to computer science researchers.
Laude invests close to the moment of discovery, when a result is still in a lab. Its listed focus is frontier AI and research-rooted infrastructure. Most of its public AI deals are infrastructure: Tensormesh builds caching-based inference optimization, and Arcade builds infrastructure for AI agents. Sonsini has led the Tensormesh deals and commented publicly on them, so founders in AI systems and inference can treat him as a likely first contact. Partners also work directly with founders who are turning research into companies.
The firm describes itself as early-stage, and third-party databases list pre-seed and seed rounds. The partners said they aim to back about 25 companies from Fund I. Laude has not published a standard check size or ownership target. Reported round sizes include a $4.5M Tensormesh seed that Laude led in October 2025. Those figures are whole-round sizes and do not show Laude's own check.
- Tensormesh: AI inference platform built on KV caching and the open-source LMCache project. Laude led the $4.5M seed in October 2025 and joined a $20M extension in May 2026.
- Arcade (Arcade.dev): infrastructure for AI agents. It raised $12M in March 2025, and Crunchbase lists Laude as lead of the seed round. TechCrunch described it as Laude's first publicly announced investment.
- Inferact: seed round of $150M in January 2026, per the Lounge deals desk.
- Arena: listed by PitchBook as a Laude investment in 2025 and January 2026. Round details are not public in the sources found.
- Perplexity: AI answer engine co-founded by Konwinski. Third-party directories list it among the firm's investments.
- globalventuring.com/university/us-and-canada/databricks-cofounder-150m
- time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/andy-konwinski
- x.com/andykonwinski/status/1866524676727705626
- techcrunch.com/2025/03/18/arcade-raises-12m-from-perplexity-co-founder
- hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/tensormesh-raises-20m-launches-ai-inference-p
- pulse2.com/tensormesh-4-5-million-seed-funding-raised-for-ai-inference
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/600321-61
- crunchbase.com/organization/laude-ventures/recent_investments
Investing activity
Laude Ventures appears in 2 AI deals tracked by the AI Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $170M. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $150M. The most recent are Tensormesh (Seed, $20M, May 2026) and Inferact (Seed, $150M, Jan 2026).
Laude Ventures most often invests alongside NVentures, Valley Capital Partners, Alumni Ventures and CoreWeave, and the companies it backs on AI Lounge are mostly in AI and Inference infrastructure.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Laude Ventures
Who founded Laude Ventures?
Andy Konwinski (co-founder of Databricks and Perplexity), Pete Sonsini and Andrew Krioukov launched the firm in December 2024. All three are general partners.
How large is Laude Ventures' fund?
Its first fund, Laude Ventures I, is $150 million. Crunchbase dates the fund to December 2024. No second fund has been reported.
What AI startups has Laude Ventures invested in?
Public examples include Tensormesh, Arcade, Inferact and Arena. Perplexity is also listed by directories.
What check size does Laude Ventures write?
The firm has not published a check size. Public reports give only whole-round sizes, such as the $4.5M Tensormesh seed it led.
Does Laude Ventures only back Berkeley founders?
No. Press coverage says the fund mostly backs UC Berkeley spinouts. The Forbes launch coverage, as quoted by Andy Konwinski, says it targets research-driven startups at Berkeley and elsewhere.
What AI companies has Laude Ventures invested in?
Laude Ventures's AI investments include Tensormesh and Inferact. The 2 rounds on AI Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Laude Ventures based?
Laude Ventures is based in United States.
What stage does Laude Ventures invest at?
In the rounds tracked on AI Lounge, Laude Ventures has invested at Seed, with a median round of $150M.
Who does Laude Ventures co-invest with?
Laude Ventures's most frequent co-investors on AI Lounge are NVentures (1 deal), Valley Capital Partners (1 deal), Alumni Ventures (1 deal), CoreWeave (1 deal) and AMD Ventures (1 deal).
How can founders reach Laude Ventures?
Founders on AI Lounge can see Laude Ventures'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 Laude Ventures to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.