Accel has raised $3.5 billion in new capital to invest in emerging technology companies around the world, expanding the venture capital firm’s firepower as artificial intelligence continues to reshape the startup market, according to Bloomberg.
The new capital is aimed at younger companies and reinforces Accel’s strategy of identifying startups early and continuing to support them as they scale. Accel has historically operated early-stage investment teams across the U.S., Europe and Israel, and India while maintaining a global approach to company building.
Artificial intelligence is expected to be a significant area of deployment. Accel has been increasing its exposure across the AI stack, including software, infrastructure and applications, with investments in companies such as Anthropic, Cursor maker Anysphere, Perplexity, Lovable, Vercel and Cyera.
The firm’s AI strategy extends beyond large foundation-model companies. Accel has also invested in emerging infrastructure businesses such as RadixArk, which is developing open-source AI inference and training systems, and Fractile, which is building chips and systems designed for AI inference workloads.
Accel’s latest fundraising comes only months after the firm announced $5 billion in new late-stage capital. That April raise was designed to provide larger checks for rapidly scaling companies, particularly as AI startups increasingly require substantial amounts of capital to compete.
Of that earlier capital, $4 billion was allocated to Accel’s fifth Leaders fund, which focuses on large investments in late-stage companies globally. The firm also raised $650 million for a sidecar vehicle that allows limited partners to increase their exposure to selected investments.
The combination of Accel’s early-stage and late-stage pools gives the firm the ability to invest across a company’s lifecycle, from its initial institutional financing through large growth rounds.
Accel has said AI is shortening the time between a company’s creation and its ability to reach significant scale. The firm believes the current market represents the early stages of a broader technological transformation, with opportunities expanding across software, infrastructure and industries being reshaped by AI.
The firm has backed more than 800 companies over its history, including earlier technology successes such as Atlassian, CrowdStrike, Flipkart and Slack. Accel’s latest funds are intended to position the firm to identify another generation of global technology companies as AI accelerates startup formation and growth.
