Greylock announced Greylock 18, a $1.5 billion fund dedicated to partnering with founders at the earliest stages in AI. The fund will back founders building across infrastructure, cybersecurity, applications, deep tech, consumer, and fintech. Greylock said the fund extends its long-running strategy of partnering with a select set of founders early and helping them scale from inception to IPO and beyond.
Founded in 1965, Greylock has invested through several major technology cycles. The firm has partnered early with companies including Airbnb, LinkedIn, Meta, Palo Alto Networks, and Workday, while also backing growth-stage companies such as Anthropic, Coinbase, Ramp, Roblox, and Wiz.
Across its history, Greylock has been involved in more than 100 IPOs and 250 acquisitions. The firm said Greylock 18 continues that company-building approach with an AI-first investment strategy.
Greylock has invested across foundation models, infrastructure, and applications through companies including 7AI, Abnormal AI, Anthropic, Baseten, Braintrust, Cresta, Resolve AI, and Snorkel AI. Recent portfolio milestones include the Figma and Rubrik IPOs, Palo Alto Networks’ $3.35 billion acquisition of Chronosphere, and multiple late-stage financings, including Baseten recently reaching a $13 billion valuation.
The firm’s strategy remains highly concentrated. Each Greylock partner typically makes one to two new investments per year, allowing the firm’s investment team and in-house portfolio support teams to focus closely on a smaller number of founders and companies.
Greylock said its in-house talent, recruiting, customer development, and marketing teams play an active role in helping portfolio companies build. Across its early-stage investments, the firm said those teams have sourced more than half of early engineering, design, and product hires.
The firm’s internal teams have also supported key early marketing and sales executive hiring, helped portfolio companies land a majority of initial enterprise customers, and assisted with messaging, positioning, and company launches.
With Greylock 18, the firm is deepening its commitment to AI-native companies that it believes can become future market leaders. Greylock said its concentrated model of company building and long-term partnership is becoming even more important as AI accelerates the creation of new technology categories.
KEY QUOTE:
“AI has unleashed the most exciting period for new company creation in our lifetimes. Greylock’s focus on backing founders from the earliest stages and working closely alongside them is well suited to building this next generation of technology and market leaders.”
Saam Motamedi, General Partner at Greylock
