Kleiner Perkins announces $2 billion in new capital, showing established companies can still raise big money

Many VC firms are struggling to attract fresh capital from their own promoters amid a slow IPO environment.

But established, brand-name companies are still able to raise large amounts of money.

On Friday, Kleiner Perkins announced it had raised more than $2 billion in new capital across two funds, a slight increase from the 52-year-old firm’s previous fundraise of $1.8 billion in early 2022.

Other major firms that successfully navigated the slowdown in VC fundraising this year include Andreessen Horowitz, which secured $7.2 billion for multiple funds, General Catalyst, which has reportedly managed to raise $6 billion, and Norwest, which raised $3 billion in capital.

Kleiner Perkins said in a blog post that it will continue to invest in enterprise software, consumer, healthcare, fintech and hardtech startups, as it did for its previous fund. But what has changed is the opportunity to make these industries more efficient with the help of AI.

The firm has already backed some high-profile AI-powered startups, including business application search tool Glean and AI assistant for lawyers Harvey. However, compared to other big VC firms, Kleiner Perkins’ investments in major AI companies are modest.

Kleiner Perkins, founded in 1972, was once considered one of Silicon Valley’s best firms. It was an early backer of companies such as Amazon, Compaq Computer, Genentech, Netscape and Sun Microsystems. Although the firm lost some of its prominence in the last tech boom, it still invested in several eventual winners, including Airbnb, Instacart, Slack and Robinhood.