Meritech Capital
About Meritech Capital
Late-stage venture investor.
Meritech Capital Partners was founded in 1999 by Paul Madera, Rob Ward and Mike Gordon. It is based in Palo Alto, California. Wikipedia says it launched with sponsorship from Accel Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Worldview Technology Partners, and has operated independently since 2003. Madera and Ward remain general partners. The third-party profile f4.fund lists other general partners including Alex Kurland, George Bischof, Alex Clayton, Arsham Memarzadeh and Max Motschwiller. f4.fund says Memarzadeh joined in 2025 and leads AI, cybersecurity and frontier technology, after six years at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Clayton was quoted for Meritech in the April 2026 Avoca announcement.
Meritech does not run a separate AI fund. It backs fast-growing technology companies, and the AI deals sit within that growth strategy. In April 2026 it co-led Avoca's Series B with General Catalyst. Avoca builds AI agents that handle calls, chat, email and text for home-service businesses. Avoca announced more than $125M raised across Seed, Series A and Series B at a $1B valuation. f4.fund reports that Meritech led DepthFirst's $80M Series B, an applied AI security lab, in March or April 2026. In August 2026 Meritech was one of five firms that jointly led Lumilens's $700M round, according to SiliconANGLE. Lumilens makes optical networking chips for AI clusters. f4.fund also lists OpenEvidence (clinical AI) and Clay (go-to-market automation) as current portfolio companies.
Third-party profiles describe Meritech as a growth-stage investor, mostly Series B through pre-IPO. Meritech has not published check sizes that I could find. f4.fund estimates typical checks of $10M to $100M, with larger ones in some recent rounds. Treat that as an outside estimate. f4.fund says Meritech often leads or co-leads but also joins rounds led by others, and that decisions are made by the partnership. Meritech's earlier funds were Meritech Capital Partners IV at $425M and a $500M fund raised in July 2014. Michigan's state investment board report lists Meritech Capital Partners VI and VII among its holdings. I did not find public sizes for those two funds. f4.fund puts total assets under management at about $2.6B, but that figure matches the older Wikipedia figure, so treat it as dated.
- Lumilens: optical networking chips for AI clusters; Meritech was among the firms that jointly led its $700M round in August 2026.
- Avoca: AI agents for home and field service businesses; Meritech co-led the Series B with General Catalyst in April 2026.
- DepthFirst: applied AI security lab; Meritech reportedly led its $80M Series B in 2026.
- OpenEvidence: clinical AI; listed as a current portfolio company, round not confirmed.
- Clay: data enrichment and go-to-market automation; Meritech reportedly led its Series B.
- f4.fund/firms/meritech-capital
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritech_Capital_Partners
- privateequitywire.co.uk/meritech-capital-raises-usd425m-fourth-fund
- prnewswire.com/news-releases/avoca-raises-125m-at-1b-valuation-to-powe
- siliconangle.com/2026/08/06/optical-networking-startup-lumilens-launch
- michigan.gov/treasury/-/media/Project/Websites/treasury/SMIB/2025/Octo
- seedtable.com/investors/meritech-capital-partners
Investing activity
Meritech Capital appears in 4 AI deals tracked by the AI Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $1.4B, and led 2 of them. The rounds are mostly Series C, Growth and Series A, with a median round size of $325M and the largest at $700M. The most recent are ASI (Series C, $325M, Oct 2026), Pigment (Series round, $250M, Oct 2026) and Lumilens (Series A, $700M, Aug 2026).
Meritech Capital most often invests alongside Spark Capital, Citadel Securities, Craft Ventures and EQT, and the companies it backs on AI Lounge are mostly in AI simulation and monitoring, AI planning and forecasting software and AI connectivity / photonics.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Meritech Capital
Who founded Meritech Capital and when?
Paul Madera, Rob Ward and Mike Gordon founded Meritech in 1999. The firm is based in Palo Alto, California.
What stage does Meritech Capital invest in AI companies?
Meritech invests mainly in growth stages, Series B and later. Its recent AI deals include a Series B in Avoca and a $700M round in Lumilens.
How big are Meritech Capital's checks?
Meritech has not published check sizes. The third-party profile f4.fund estimates $10M to $100M, with larger checks in some recent rounds.
Which Meritech partners lead AI investments?
Alex Clayton was quoted for Meritech on the Avoca round. f4.fund says Arsham Memarzadeh, who joined in 2025, leads AI, cybersecurity and frontier technology.
Does Meritech Capital lead rounds?
Yes. It co-led Avoca's Series B in April 2026 and was one of the joint leads of Lumilens's $700M round in August 2026. It also joins rounds led by other firms.
What AI companies has Meritech Capital invested in?
Meritech Capital's AI investments include ASI, Pigment, Lumilens and Avoca. The 4 rounds on AI Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Meritech Capital based?
Meritech Capital is based in Palo Alto, US.
What stage does Meritech Capital invest at?
In the rounds tracked on AI Lounge, Meritech Capital has invested at Series C, Growth, Series A and Series B, with a median round of $325M. Meritech Capital led 2 of those rounds.
Who does Meritech Capital co-invest with?
Meritech Capital's most frequent co-investors on AI Lounge are Spark Capital (2 deals), Citadel Securities (1 deal), Craft Ventures (1 deal), EQT (1 deal) and Iconiq Capital (1 deal).
How can founders reach Meritech Capital?
Founders on AI Lounge can see Meritech 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 Meritech Capital to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.