Khosla Ventures

Khosla Ventures is an American venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California, on Sand Hill Road. Founded in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems and former general partner at Kleiner Perkins, the firm manages approximately $15 billion in assets and is known for backing technically ambitious companies that other investors describe as "science experiments."¹² Khosla Ventures was the first venture capital firm to invest in OpenAI, in 2018, and has backed DoorDash, Stripe, Square, Affirm, Instacart, Rocket Lab, and Impossible Foods at early stages.¹⁵

Founding

Vinod Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 with Andy Bechtolsheim, Bill Joy, and Scott McNealy, then spent 18 years as a general partner at Kleiner Perkins before launching his own firm in 2004.² He started Khosla Ventures specifically to fund what he called "imprudent science experiments" - bets too long-dated or technically risky for the consensus venture model.¹

The firm's first two investment vehicles were funded entirely with Khosla's personal capital and were closed to outside institutional investors.¹ In 2009 the firm opened to limited partners and raised Khosla Ventures Fund III, which secured roughly $1 billion for traditional early- and growth-stage companies, alongside a $300 million Khosla Seed fund earmarked for higher-risk opportunities.¹

By 2013 Khosla Ventures was considered one of the leading clean-technology investors in the United States, with stakes in more than 70 companies in the sector.¹ By October 2015 it ranked among the five largest and most active investors in the space sector.¹

Growth and recent funds

In September 2017 Khosla Ventures reported approximately $5 billion in assets under management.¹ In October 2021 the firm announced $1.4 billion in fresh capital, split between $400 million for seed deals and $1 billion for later-stage companies.¹¹¹ Its first opportunity fund closed at $557 million in January 2022.¹

In November 2023 the firm closed $3.1 billion across three vehicles - $1.6 billion for its eighth flagship fund, $1 billion for later-stage investments, and $500 million for seed deals - making it the largest venture-firm raise of the year.³¹ Khosla Ventures said the new capital would be deployed into nuclear fusion, humanoid robotics, and artificial intelligence applied to healthcare and transportation.¹ In October 2024 the firm raised a separate $405 million special-purpose vehicle to invest in OpenAI's next funding round.⁷

The OpenAI bet

Khosla Ventures became the first venture capital firm to back OpenAI in 2018, when the lab was still a non-profit research organization with no commercial product.¹ The firm has since added to its position through subsequent rounds, and during the November 2023 board crisis that briefly removed Sam Altman as CEO, Vinod Khosla publicly disclosed the scale of the firm's exposure and lobbied for Altman's reinstatement.⁶ In October 2024 Khosla Ventures raised a dedicated $405 million special-purpose vehicle - separate from its flagship funds - to participate in OpenAI's next financing.⁷

Investment areas

Khosla Ventures invests across artificial intelligence, climate and sustainability, enterprise software, consumer, financial technology, digital health, medical technology and diagnostics, therapeutics, and frontier sciences such as fusion and aerospace.¹

Consumer. The firm invested in DoorDash in 2013, well before the company's December 2020 IPO at a $72 billion valuation, and led the seed round of Instacart in 2012 ahead of its 2023 public debut at $11 billion in market capitalization.¹ Other consumer investments include Opendoor.¹

Enterprise. Khosla Ventures led Okta's Series B in 2011 ahead of its 2017 IPO and backed GitLab in its Series A in 2015 before its $15 billion debut in 2021.¹ Other enterprise positions include Nutanix, Rubrik, Cylance, and Replit.¹

Fintech. The firm participated in Square's Series A in 2009, six years before the company - now Block, Inc. - went public.¹¹⁰ It led Affirm's Series A in 2013 prior to the lender's 2021 IPO at a $24 billion valuation.¹ Additional fintech investments include Stripe, Upstart, and Ramp.¹¹¹

Sustainability and climate. Khosla Ventures participated in Commonwealth Fusion Systems' $115 million Series A in 2019 and was an early backer of QuantumScape, the solid-state battery developer that went public via SPAC in 2020.¹ Other sustainability investments include LanzaTech, Fortera, and Verdagy.¹

Health. Khosla Ventures led Guardant Health's Series B in 2014 ahead of its 2018 IPO and was an early investor in AliveCor (2012), Headspace, Oscar Health, and Sword Health.¹

Frontier. Beyond OpenAI, the firm participated in Rocket Lab's Series A in 2013 - a $28 million investment that was worth roughly $1.7 billion by the company's 2021 IPO.⁵ Other frontier positions include Glydways, Hermeus, Opentrons, and Varda Space Industries.¹

Team and leadership

Khosla Ventures is led by five managing directors: founder Vinod Khosla, David Weiden, Samir Kaul, Sven Strohband, and Keith Rabois, who returned to the firm in February 2024 after five years at Founders Fund.⁸⁴ Rabois had originally been a partner at Khosla Ventures from 2013 to 2019 before his stint at Founders Fund.⁴ The firm's broader team includes more than a dozen investors, an "operators" group of in-house executives who work directly with portfolio companies on hiring and scaling, and a platform team handling finance and communications.⁸

The firm topped the Founder's Choice VC ranking of more than 200 venture capital firms in 2023, an industry survey of how founders rate the investors they have taken capital from.¹

How to Connect

Application Process. Unusually for a Sand Hill Road firm, Khosla Ventures publicly invites founders to submit business plans through its website without an introduction; the firm states that every submission is read.⁹ General inquiries go to kv@khoslaventures.com, and media to media@khoslaventures.com.⁸ The office is located at 2128 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025; the main line is 650-376-8500.⁸

What They Look For. Vinod Khosla has described the firm's preferred founder as someone with "belief in what you are doing that is updated with input from the outside but not easily shaken."⁹ In practice that translates to:

• Technical or scientific defensibility - the firm explicitly funds work that other investors call "science experiments"
• Large-market disruption rather than incremental improvement
• A willingness to commit to a 10- to 20-year build, particularly in sustainability, fusion, and frontier hardware
• Founders who can defend their assumptions under sustained, often blunt, questioning

Who to Reach Out To. The five managing directors lead investing across distinct areas:

• Vinod Khosla - generalist; AI, climate, healthcare, deep tech
• Keith Rabois - consumer, fintech, marketplaces (returned February 2024)
• David Weiden - enterprise software and infrastructure
• Samir Kaul - sustainability, agtech, life sciences
• Sven Strohband - frontier and deep tech

The full team and individual focus areas are listed at khoslaventures.com/team.⁸

Pro Tip. Khosla Ventures publishes a substantial library of fundraising and pitch advice from its own partners and outside operators - including talks by Vinod Khosla, David Weiden, and operating partner Ryno Blignaut - on the firm's entrepreneur resources site.⁹ Founders preparing to pitch the firm typically review these talks first; the partners reference their own frameworks (such as Khosla's "Pitch the Way VCs Think") in meetings, and showing fluency with them shortens the conversation.⁹

References

1. Khosla Ventures - Wikipedia(accessed May 2, 2026)
2. Vinod Khosla - Wikipedia(accessed May 2, 2026)
3. Early OpenAI Investor Khosla Ventures Closes In on $3 Billion for Venture Funds - WSJ(accessed May 2, 2026)
4. Keith Rabois Makes A Surprise Return To Khosla Ventures, Five Years After Joining Founders Fund - Forbes(accessed May 2, 2026)
5. Khosla Ventures $28 million investment in Rocket Lab is now worth about $1.7 billion - CNBC