Kleiner Perkins Research
Investment Thesis
Kleiner Perkins is a storied venture capital firm that has evolved from a broad-based mega-fund into a focused early-stage boutique. After acknowledging a "lost decade" in the late 2000s-2010s, the firm underwent a deliberate restructuring in 2017-2019 to return to its core strength: partnering with exceptional founders building transformative technology companies from inception through scale. The firm's stated mission is to be "the first call for founders who want to make history." Their investment philosophy emphasizes moral compass, empathy, humility, and winning as a mindset. They partner deeply with founders across all stages and geographies, providing not just capital but operational support, board participation, and network access.
Stage Focus
Kleiner Perkins has evolved into a multi-fund strategy:
KP21 (Early-Stage Focus): $825M fund announced in 2024, dedicated to early-stage investments with a Seed and Series A emphasis
KP Select Series: $750M+ funds for high-inflection investments and growth-stage opportunities
Overall: The firm invests across Seed, Series A, Series B, and select growth rounds. Historical data from their portfolio shows they lead most of their investments and actively follow on in subsequent rounds. They prefer to lead or be early participants rather than late-stage followers.
Check Size
Based on portfolio analysis and public announcements:
- Seed rounds: $500K-$5M
- Series A: $5M-$20M+
- Series B and beyond: $20M-$100M+ (as evidenced by recent rounds like Applied Intuition Series F at $600M with KP participation, Waymo's $16B round)
- Overall range: $100K-$150M depending on stage and conviction
Lead Tendency
Kleiner Perkins actively leads rounds across their portfolio. Evidence:
- They lead most Series A investments in their portfolio companies
- Recent leadership rounds: Harvey Series E ($300M in 2025), Applied Intuition Series F (co-led), Motive Series F (co-led), Waymo's $16B round
- They describe their role as providing "real-time feedback" and being a "blind-spot monitor" for founders
- Strong board participation across portfolio
Fund Status
Actively deploying - Recent activity in 2025-2026 indicates strong deployment:
- Announced KP21 and KP Select III in June 2024
- Raised $2B+ in fresh capital across multiple funds
- Recent investments: Waymo (Feb 2026, $16B round), Lotus Health AI (Feb 2026), Harvey Series E (2025), Applied Intuition Series F (June 2025), Motive Series F
- Portfolio companies continue to raise at high valuations, showing strong follow-on capacity
Recent Activity
2025-2026 Notable Investments:
- February 2026: Co-led $35M Series A in Lotus Health AI (healthcare AI)
- February 2026: Participated in Waymo's $16B funding round (autonomous vehicles)
- 2025: Led Harvey Series E ($300M, legal AI)
- 2025: Led Harmonic Series B ($100M, AI platform)
- June 2025: Co-led Applied Intuition Series F ($600M, vehicle intelligence)
- 2025: Multiple Series A and growth-stage leads
Portfolio Highlights
Legendary Exits:
- Amazon (IPO 1997) - early investor
- Google (IPO 2004) - early investor
- Slack (IPO/SAKS 2019, acquired by Salesforce 2021)
- Figma (Public, 2025 as public company)
- Electronic Arts (IPO)
- Genentech (acquired by Roche)
- Netscape (acquired by AOL)
- Intuit (IPO)
- Sun Microsystems (IPO)
- Compaq (IPO)
- AOL (IPO)
Active Portfolio (Representative Sample):
- Waymo - autonomous vehicles, $126B valuation (2026)
- Harvey - legal AI, generative AI
- Rippling - HR/employee data platform, unicorn
- Figma - design collaboration, public company
- Glean - enterprise search/AI
- Modern Health - mental health benefits
- Loom - video messaging, acquired by Atlassian (2024)
- Slack - workplace communication, acquired by Salesforce (2021)
- Intercom - customer communication platform
- Box - cloud content management
- Moveworks - IT automation, acquired by ServiceNow ($3B)
- Ambience - healthcare AI
- Applied Intuition - vehicle intelligence
- Netlify - modern web development
- Motive - physical economy AI
- Future - personal coaching
- Glean - enterprise AI assistant
- Viz.ai - medical imaging AI
- Truv - credit infrastructure
- Nova Credit - global credit infrastructure
- Labelbox - AI training data
- Dust Identity - supply chain security
Team
Managing Partners:
- Mamoon Hamid - Partner, led 2017 reboot, former Social Capital. Specializes in enterprise software, consumer, healthcare, fintech. Board observer/director at Figma (public), Slack (acquired), Rippling, Glean, Box, Netskope, Intercom, and many active companies. Investor in 60+ companies.
- Ilya Fushman - Partner, former Dropbox VP of Product and Index Ventures GP. Focuses on enterprise software, consumer, fintech, AI. Board participation in Harvey, Rippling, Motive, Stord, Profound, NewLimit, Infinitus. Investor in 50+ companies.
Other Key Partners:
- Annie Case - Partner
- Josh Coyne - Partner
- Leigh Marie Braswell - Partner
- Nadia Cochinwala - Principal
- Lucas Oliveira - Principal
- Aditya Naganath - Partner
Investment Focus Areas
Based on portfolio and partner specialties:
Sectors:
- Enterprise Software (primary focus)
- Consumer Technology and Apps
- Healthcare/Medical Technology
- Financial Technology and Services
- AI/Machine Learning Infrastructure
- Developer Tools and Infrastructure
- Cybersecurity
- E-commerce and Marketplaces
- Education Technology
- SaaS and Vertical Software
- Supply Chain and Logistics Technology
Technology Preferences:
- AI/ML (very high priority)
- LLM-based applications (active in 2024-2026)
- Cloud Infrastructure
- Hardware + Software combinations
- Real-time data and analytics
- Autonomous systems (vehicles, robotics)
- Biotech and healthcare IT
Decision Process
Kleiner Perkins operates as a partnership with distributed decision-making. Individual partners have meaningful autonomy in their investment areas but present to the broader partnership. Structure:
- Partners lead their own investment diligence and board roles
- Partnership consensus on larger fund commitments
- Regular partnership meetings for strategic alignment
- Each partner maintains their own relationships and conviction areas
Decision Timeline
Based on portfolio company announcements and public statements:
- Seed rounds: 3-6 weeks typical for KP as lead
- Series A: 4-8 weeks for KP as lead
- Growth rounds: 2-4 weeks for follow-on or participation
- KP emphasizes moving at "the same sense of urgency as founders" - real-time feedback and relatively fast decisions once conviction is formed
Warm Introduction Preference
Warm intros strongly preferred but not always required. Kleiner Perkins has extensive networks across Silicon Valley and beyond. While cold outreach is possible, introduction through existing portfolio companies, founders, or angels in their network significantly increases response likelihood.
Typical Involvement
- Board seat/board observer: Standard for Series A and beyond
- Operational support: Deep engagement through operational partners and network
- Network access: Introductions to customers, strategic partners, hiring
- Follow-on funding: Strong pattern of supporting winners with additional capital
- Exit support: M&A and IPO advisory through partner network and experience
Founder Preferences
Based on partner statements and portfolio composition:
- Technical founders with execution track record (Mamoon and Ilya both emphasize this)
- Founders solving real pain points they've personally experienced
- Diverse teams - explicit commitment to supporting underrepresented founders
- Ambitious but grounded - founders who want to "make history" but are thoughtful about execution
- Mission-driven - founders with moral compass, not just financial motivation
- Adaptive learners - particularly valued by Ilya, who came from immigrant background
Geographic Focus
- Primary: San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley (headquarters in Menlo Park)
- Secondary: New York City tech ecosystem
- Tertiary: Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston
- International: Selective investments in London, Berlin, Israel, Asia-Pacific
- Emerging focus: Toronto (recent $40M investment in Tulip.io announcement)
Notable Firm Characteristics
The "Back to the Future" Reboot (2017-2019): After a self-acknowledged "lost decade" when the firm became too sprawling and personality-driven, leadership consciously restructured to return to early-stage focus. This is a core part of their brand narrative - the firm that openly admitted mistakes and corrected course.
Kleiner Perkins Fellows Program: A structured talent pipeline funneling top students into breakout startups, with KP-sponsored seed capital. This demonstrates a long-term view on founder development.
Generational Portfolio: The firm has invested in literally shaping the technology landscape across five decades - from personal computing (Intuit, Compaq) through the internet (Yahoo, Netscape, Amazon) through social/mobile (Facebook, Zynga, Slack) through cloud (Box, Workday equivalents) through AI (current focus).
Thematic Outlook
- AI/LLM Integration: Highest priority for new investments
- Autonomous Systems: Physical economy automation (vehicles, robotics, supply chain)
- Enterprise AI: Agents, automation, analytics replacing traditional tools
- Creator Economy: Content, media, streaming (historical strength, ongoing focus)
- Healthcare Technology: Biotech, medical devices, healthcare IT
- Fintech Evolution: Credit infrastructure, payments, financial services for emerging markets
Anti-Thesis
Based on portfolio absence and partner statements:
- No gambling, gambling-adjacent, or speculative financial products
- Minimal interest in single-use consumer apps without clear monetization
- Limited interest in pure-play hardware without software/services component
- Avoids consumer apps competing directly with Facebook/Meta ecosystem
- Not interested in "me-too" companies in saturated markets
Fund Performance
Historically exceptional - the firm's exits have been among the most successful in venture capital history (Google, Amazon, Slack, etc.). Recent fund returns are proprietary but can be inferred from continued ability to raise large funds and deep founder relationships.