Venture capital (VC) firms provide financing to technology startups and other businesses with high growth potential. They raise money from clients called limited partners (LP) and disburse them to acquire stakes in high-growth companies. The VC firm charges clients a management fee, usually between 1% and 2.5% annually, and collects a share of any profits from investments, typically between 20% and 30%.

Venture capitalists have played a vital role in building many of the biggest technology companies we know today. Google, Meta, Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, and the like took venture capital funding in their early stages. However, venture capital involves risky investments where limited partners are as likely to lose their money as they can profit. It’s high-risk, high reward.

We want to examine the top ten venture capital firms by assets under management (AUM). They include:

1. Sequoia Capital – $56bn AUM.
2. Andreessen Horowitz – $36bn AUM.
3. Dragoneer Investment Group – $25bn.
4. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) – $18bn.
5. Deerfield Management – $15bn.
6. Khosla Ventures – $14bn.
7. Founders Fund – $11bn.
8. Legend Capital – $9.5bn.
9. Lightspeed Venture Partners – $7.8bn.
10. Industry Ventures – $6.5bn.

*Figures sourced from regulatory filings.

Let’s dive deeper into these venture capital firms below.

• Sequoia Capital: It was founded in 1972 by Don Valentine, fondly called the “grandfather of Silicon Valley venture capital.” Sequoia is one of the most successful venture capital firms, having backed companies including Google, Apple, PayPal, YouTube, and WhatsApp in their early stages. The firm is currently chaired by Roelof Botha.

• Andreessen Horowitz: Founded in 2009 by entrepreneurs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Andreessen co-created Mosaic, the world’s first widely-used web browser. He co-founded Netscape Communications and Opsware, which sold for $4.2bn and $1.65bn, respectively. Ben Horowitz co-founded Opsware alongside Andreessen before they teamed up to launch their eponymous VC firm.

• Dragoneer Investment Group: A San Francisco-based firm founded in 2012, making it one of the youngest yet biggest VC firms. Dragoneer focuses on late-stage startup investments and also invests in publicly-traded companies. Notable investments include Airbnb, Instacart, Uber, Spotify, and Snowflake.

• New Enterprise Associates (NEA): A Maryland-based VC firm founded in 1977. It launched with $16mn in funding and now manages nearly $20bn. The firm is chaired by Scott Sandell, who teaches an entrepreneurship course at Stanford University in his spare time.

• Deerfield Management: A New York City-based firm specializing in healthcare and biotech investments. It invests in both private and publicly-traded companies.

• Khosla Ventures: Founded in 2004 by entrepreneur Vinod Khosla. Before launching his eponymous VC firm, Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems, one of America’s foremost technology companies.

• Founders Fund: Founded in 2005 by Peter Thiel, Ken Howery, and Luke Nosek. Thiel previously co-founded PayPal with Elon Musk, Max Levchin, Howery, and Nosek. A handful of people from the PayPal team went on to launch many successful technology ventures, including Musk (SpaceX and Tesla), Levchin (Affirm), David Sacks (Yammer), and Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn). Former PayPal executive Roelof Botha currently chairs Sequoia Capital.

• Legend Capital: A Chinese firm focused on domestic venture capital investments. It’s a subsidiary of Legend Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo.

• Lightspeed Venture Partners: A Menlo Park, California-based VC firm. It was the first venture investor in Snap Inc., owner of the Snapchat app, earning over $2bn from an $8mn investment when the company debuted on the public markets in 2017.

• Industry Ventures: A San Francisco-based VC firm founded by entrepreneur Hans Swildens. Notable investments include Anaplan, AppDynamics, Arista Networks, Chegg, and Coupang.

Most of the top ten venture capital firms globally are based in the U.S., and one is in China. Of the top 100 venture capital firms globally, most are based in the U.S. and about two dozen hail from China and India. A few come from Europe and the Middle East.

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