In 2023, global venture funding totaled $345 billion, a 35% year-over-year decline and the lowest level of funding since 2019. However, with macroeconomic conditions improving, investors are cautiously optimistic about the future of dealmaking.
And as the global economy stabilizes, venture capital (VC) firms will play an increasingly important role in supporting innovative startups.
In this article, we'll explore what differentiates leading VC firms and the top 15 firms investing in various sectors—based on Dealroom’s Investor Ranking, which measures venture capital investors by their success in picking startups valued at more than $250 million.
50% of the top 50 firms on Dealroom’s Investor Ranking are Affinity customers.
What leading VC firms do differentlyOur 2023 investment benchmark report researched the activities of top VC firms that use Affinity and revealed three striking characteristics. Top VC firms have:
- Bigger, deeper networks: Leading VC firms manage networks that are 63% larger, on average, than other firms’ networks.
- Deal management consistency: On average, top VC firms manage a more consistent number of deals per month than across all Affinity customers.
- More meetings and emails: Compared to their peers, top VCs send 11% more emails and book 15% more meetings.
What helps top firms stay ahead? Relationship intelligence. By translating vast amounts of data into insights, relationship intelligence helps you understand your network and the most important relationships in it, which can make all the difference in finding and closing high-quality deals.
Pre-register to receive our 2024 investment benchmark report, which will include exclusive data on how top VC firms outperformed the market last year and how you can use relationship intelligence to gain a competitive edge.
Top 7 VC firms investing in SaaSSoftware-as-a-Service (SaaS) has emerged as one of the most profitable and fast-growing sectors in the technology space, with a large number of startups competing for a slice of the market. It’s also a lucrative sector for venture investment, and in 2023, 47% of venture capital was invested in SaaS startups.
Here are some of the top venture capital firms with the highest proportion of SaaS companies in their portfolios:
Sequoia CapitalSequoia Capital is a major player in the world of SaaS investment, with a strong focus on enterprise software. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the firm has made a name for itself by investing in innovative startups in various sectors, including finance, energy, healthcare, and the internet.
With a diverse portfolio of almost 2,000 companies, Sequoia Capital's SaaS catalog includes prominent names such as Dropbox, Loom, Zoom, Drift, and Notion.
- Founded: 1972
- Total funds invested: 34
- Total fund size: $35.1B
- Total investments: 1,918
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture, late stage venture
- Investment size: Min: $50K - Max: $30M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
SV AngelSV Angel is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that primarily invests in U.S. software-focused companies in the consumer and enterprise sectors. They’re known for investing early into companies like Airbnb and Slack, and they don’t take board seats in the companies they fund.
Some of the notable SaaS companies in their portfolio include Gusto, Slack, Zapier, GitHub, and Asana.
- Founded: 1992
- Total funds invested: 7
- Total fund size: $252.5M
- Total investments: 1,415
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture, late stage venture
- Investment size: Min: $7.5M - Max: $25M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
AccelAccel is a prominent global venture capital firm that invests in both early and growth-stage startups. With over 40 years of experience building and supporting numerous successful SaaS companies, Accel provides entrepreneurs with the resources they need to create world-class, category-defining businesses.
Among the many successful companies in Accel's portfolio are Atlassian, Braintree, Cloudera, DJI, Dropbox, Slack, and Squarespace.
- Founded: 1983
- Total funds invested in: 33
- Total fund size: $18.3B
- Number of investments: 1,987
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture, late stage venture
- Investment size: Min: $1M - Max: $100M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
Lightspeed Venture PartnersLightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm that invests in enterprise, fintech, health, and consumer sectors, with notable investments in companies such as Grab and Grubhub. According to Alex Taussig, a Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, the most successful venture capitalists are experts at embracing constructive conflict and building deep, meaningful relationships.
As a leading player in the venture capital space with over 20 years of experience, Lightspeed has almost 1,400 investments and more than 200 exits in its portfolio.
- Founded: 2000
- Total funds invested in: 28
- Total Fund size: $18.9 B
- Total Investments: 1,338
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture, late stage venture, private equity
- Investment size: Min: $5M - Max: $50M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
Bessemer Venture PartnersBessemer Venture Partners, one of the oldest venture capital firms in the United States, invests in technology startups globally. The firm funds startups at all stages, from seed to growth, across a range of technology and services segments.
With a notable history of early investments in game-changing companies like Yelp, LinkedIn, Shopify, and Skype and more than 145 IPOs, Bessemer Venture Partners have garnered a reputation for identifying promising startups in the notoriously difficult-to-predict consumer technology space.
- Founded: 1911
- Total funds invested: 13
- Total fund size: $14.3B
- Number of investments: 1,380
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture, late stage venture, IPO
- Investment size: Min: $100K - Max: $75M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
FundersClubFundersClub is an online venture capital firm that invests in early stage startups and funds less than 2% of the startups they review. Their portfolio companies have proceeded to raise more than $6 billion of follow-on capital from other firms.
FundersClub made early investments in companies like Instacart, Coinbase, and GitLab and has over 500 investments.
- Founded: 2012
- Total funds invested: 7
- Total fund size: $6.7M
- Total investments: 517
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture
- Investment size: Not available
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
Founders FundFounders Fund is a venture capital firm that invests in companies building revolutionary technology, typically in aerospace & transportation, biotech, advanced machines and software, energy, and the internet.
They were the first institutional investor in SpaceX and Palantir Technologies, as well as an early investor in Facebook.
Founders Fund invests across all stages, sectors, and geographies, and within SaaS, some notable companies in their portfolio include Palantir, Stripe, Figma, and Asana.
- Founded: 2005
- Total funds invested in: 12
- Total Fund size: $13.1B
- Total Investments: 888
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture, late stage venture
- Investment size: Min: $30M - Max: $100M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
Top 5 VC firms investing in fintechAs the financial services industry continues to evolve, venture capital firms have become increasingly important players in supporting innovation and driving growth in fintech. According to Dealroom, “Over $480B in VC funding has gone into fintech startups since 2016, and more than $1.1T of exit value has been created in that same period.”
The following firms specialize in identifying promising startups and emerging fintech companies, providing the necessary funding, guidance, and support to help these companies succeed.
Here are some of the top venture capital firms that invest significantly in the fintech sector:
Tiger Global ManagementTiger Global Management is a prominent investment company that focuses on investing in public and private enterprises within the internet, software, consumer, and fintech sectors worldwide. With a reputation for investing in some of the world's most innovative companies, Tiger Global Management has had an impressive track record, with more than 140 successful exits.
The firm has gained a reputation for making notable investments in high-profile financial services companies such as Revolut, Coinbase, Chargebee, and many others.
- Founded: 2001
- Total funds invested in: 9
- Total Fund size: $36.1B
- Total Investments: 1,191
- Stages they invest in: Early stage venture, late stage venture, post-IPO
- Investment size: Min: $50M - Max: $200M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
Index VenturesIndex Ventures is a global venture capital firm that invests in sectors ranging from fintech, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to entertainment and healthcare. Index Ventures is headquartered in San Francisco and invests in companies at all stages of development, from seed to explosive growth.
The firm has a diverse portfolio, including fintech companies such as Robinhood, Revolut, Funding Circle, Credit Benchmark, and Prodigy Finance.
- Founded: 1996
- Total funds invested in: 20
- Total fund size: $12.7B
- Total Investments: 1,128
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture, late stage venture, IPO
- Investment size: Min: $50K - Max: $75M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)Andreessen Horowitz is a venture capital firm renowned for backing entrepreneurs passionate about building the future. Founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in 2009, the firm provides startups with access to expertise in innovation, executive and technical talent acquisition, market intelligence, policy and regulatory affairs, business development, and marketing and brand-building.
The firm invests across fintech, AI, bio & health, consumer, crypto, enterprise, and games. With an impressive portfolio of fintech companies that includes Robinhood, Carta, Stripe, and OpenInvest, among others, Andreessen Horowitz has become synonymous with backing disruptive startups that have the potential to change the world.
- Founded: 2009
- Total funds invested: 28
- Total fund size: $39.4B
- Total investments: 1,519
- Stages they invest in: Early stage venture, late stage venture
- Investment size: Min: $30M - Max: $75M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
500 Global (previously 500 Startups)500 Global is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm and seed accelerator that funds early stage, fast-growing technology companies. Their portfolio includes more than 35 companies valued at over $1 billion and more than 160 companies valued at over $100 million.
The firm invests globally and recently closed $143M in financing for its Southeast Asia early-stage fund. Among its fintech investments are Aviva, Clip, Chipper, Mercury, and Konfio.
- Founded: 2010
- Total funds invested in: 31
- Total Fund size: $824.6M
- Total Investments: 3,108
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture
- Investment size: Not available
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
SoftBankSoftBank is headquartered in Tokyo and invests globally in early to late stage and post-IPO companies. SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund is the world’s largest tech-focused VC fund, and they invest in innovative companies that aim to accelerate the global transition to an AI economy.
They invest across education, enterprise, consumer, fintech, healthtech, and more.
Softbank’s fintech portfolio includes names such as Klarna, Revolut, Aleo, and M1 Finance.
- Founded: 1981
- Total funds invested in: 93
- Total Fund size: $1.9B
- Total Investments: 326
- Stages they invest in: Early stage venture, late stage venture, post-IPO
- Investment size: Min: $30M - Max: $100M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
3 top VC firms investing in healthcareGiven an aging population and rising healthcare costs in many areas of the world, investment into healthcare is becoming increasingly important. In 2023, $58.7 billion of venture capital was invested in biotech, pharma, and healthtech companies globally. These sectors are in the top five biggest VC investment categories.
Companies in the healthcare sector, particularly biopharmaceutical companies, typically require significant investment to support research and development and innovation in groundbreaking drugs and therapies.
Here are the top venture capital firms actively investing in healthcare:
New Enterprise AssociatesWith almost 50 years of experience, New Enterprises Associates (NEA) is a global venture capital firm that has invested in and partnered with companies working on some of the most transformational innovations in healthcare and technology.
NEA invests across all stages and, since its inception in 1977, their portfolio companies have yielded over 270 IPOs, 450 M&A transactions, and 99 billion-dollar businesses.
Highlights in their portfolio include Strive Health, Neuehealth, Bright Health Group, Eargo, and American Pathology Partners.
- Founded: 1977
- Total funds invested: 14
- Total fund size: $26.1B
- Total investments: 2,175
- Stages they invest in: Early stage venture, late stage venture, IPO
- Investment size: Min: $20M - Max: $50M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
Khosla VenturesKhosla Ventures offers strategic advice and venture assistance to entrepreneurs working on disruptive, highly-innovative technologies. The firm currently invests in consumer, enterprise, fintech, frontier, healthcare, and sustainability companies.
In the healthcare space, Khosla Ventures focuses on medtech & diagnostics, digital health, and therapeutics companies that have the potential to disrupt existing markets.
- Founded: 2004
- Total funds invested in: 11
- Total fund size: $7.2B
- Total Investments: 1,176
- Stages they invest in: Early stage venture, late stage venture
- Investment size: Min: $15M - Max: 50M
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom
General Catalyst is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based venture capital firm that backs ambitious founders looking to transform their industries around the world.
According to PitchBook, General Catalyst has been the most active VC investor in the digital health sector since 2020. They have healthcare-specific investment strategies, including Health Assurance and HATCo, which are focused on funding and partnering with companies working towards creating a more affordable and equitable healthcare system.
They invest across early and growth stage companies, including Cityblock Health, Adonis, Hippocratic AI, and Osana.
- Founded: 2000
- Total funds invested: 15
- Total fund size: $8.6B
- Total investments: 1,263
- Stages they invest in: Seed, early stage venture, late stage venture
- Investment size: Min: $25M - Max: $100M
1. Sequoia Capital
AUM: $28B
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Arguably the most famous of all the VC firms, the mere mention of Sequoia Capital as the lead investor has a tendency to bring other investors onto the ticket. They rarely get it wrong. Famous investments include Apple, Cisco, Google, Instagram, LinkedIn, PayPal, WhatsApp, and Zoom.
2. Andreessen Horowitz
AUM: $35B
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Despite having a name that’s associated with some of the biggest names in technology, Andreessen Horowitz is a relatively new player on the block, having only been founded in 2009. Big investment successes for the firm include Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, and Zynga.
3. Kleiner Perkins
AUM: $6.8B
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Kleiner Perkins celebrates 51 years in 2023, and over the past half-century has achieved some notable successes. These have included America Online, Amazon, Electronic Arts, Google, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, and Compaq. In total, the company has been an early investor in close to 1,000 technology companies.
4. Khosla Ventures
AUM: $15B
Location: Menlo Park, CA.
Khosla Ventures is closely associated with Kleiner Perkins, having been established in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, a former general partner at KP. In addition to providing funding for technology firms, Khosla Ventures also invests in cleantech. Its notable investments include Stripe, instacart, DoorDash, and Square.
5. Battery Ventures
AUM: $13B
Location: Boston, MA
Founded 40 years ago in 1983, Battery Ventures is the signature VC firm for Boston. It invests in application and infrastructure software, consumer, industrial technology, and life sciences. Its high-profile investments include CoinBase, Databricks, Glassdoor, and Groupon.
6. New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
AUM: $20B.
Location: Chevy Chase, MD.
Although NEA does have a presence in Menlo Park, like most on this list, its Maryland base makes it an outlier. That said, its age - coming up 50 years now - makes it a go-to for many new startups. Its higher-profile deals have included Patreon, Plaid, Upstart, and UpWork.
7. Founders Fund
AUM: $11B
Location: San Francisco, CA.
Founders Fund is inextricably linked with the names behind it, most notably Peter Thiel and Sean Parker, themselves the founders of firms such as Napster, OpenAI, Palantir, and PayPal. In addition to its most notorious investment, Facebook, Founders Fund investments include Airbnb, Deepmind, SpaceX, Stripe, Spotify, and Lyft.
8. First Round Capital
AUM: $3B
Location: San Francisco, CA.
First Round differentiates itself from most of the bigger VC firms on the west coast in that its modus operandi is to invest at the seed stage. It openly states on its website that Series B and C firms are already too old for their investments. Blue Apron, Rover, Uber, and WarbyParker.
9. Accel
AUM: $50B+
Location: Palo Alto, CA.
Another high-profile VC firm founded in 1983, Accel’s success in California enabled it to spread its wings and open offices in Europe and China. It maintains a broad scope of investments that cover everything from consumer to infrastructure. Its high-profile investments include Etsy, Rovio, Braintree, and Atlassian.
10. Greylock Partners
AUM: $3.5B
Location: Menlo Park, CA.
The oldest firm on the list is closing in on 60 years. Greylock’s ability to continuously rejuvenate and evolve its investment strategy is a testament to its management team, which includes Reid Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn. Its high-profile investments include Facebook, Figma, Discord, and CoinBase.
11. Tiger Global Management
AUM: $125B
Location: New York, NY.
Although Tiger Global is not only a venture capital fund – it also operates in private equity, hedge funds, and other forms of investment – it has been the most prolific of any US venture capital fund since before the beginning of the pandemic. Its high-profile investments include Chime, Data Bricks,
12. Index Ventures
AUM: $13B
Location: San Francisco, CA.
Index Ventures is more commonly known as a European VC firm, but it has two headquarters, one of which is in San Francisco. Founded nearly 30 years ago in 1996, it invests in technology with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure, and security. Among its more well-known investments are Betfair, MySQL, Facebook, and Zendesk.
13. Softbank Vision Fund
AUM: $154B.
Location: London, UK.
There was a time, about five years ago, when it looked like any new technology-based company with good prospects was nobody unless Softbank Vision Fund had invested in them. Several dud investments later, the shine may have worn off somewhat, but the scale of Softbank’s operations still makes it a venture capital fund to be reckoned with. Famous investments include ByteDance, DoorDash, Revolut, and WeWork.
14. Lightspeed Venture Partners
AUM: $18B
Location: Menlo Park, CA.
Lightspeed Venture Partners was founded in 2000, just as the world of venture capital was hurtling toward the dot-com crash. After riding out that highly turbulent period, it grew considerably, focusing on multi-stage investments in enterprise, consumer, and health. Well-known investments by Lightspeed include Grubhub, Flixster, Cameo, and Giphy.
15. Spark Capital
AUM: $5B
Location: San Francisco, CA.
Spark Capital was founded in 2005 with a broad mandate to invest in early-stage consumer, commerce, FinTech, software, frontier, and media companies. The company admits that it has been effective in using project management software, like DealRoom, to provide all partners with an overview of each deal, not just the partner assigned to the deal. Its well-known investments include Twitter, Tumblr, Oculus, and Snap.
Additional Resource: Top 21 VC Firms in The World
- Andreessen Horowitz
- Sequoia Capital
- Y Combinator
- Bain Capital Ventures
- IVP
- Spark Capital
They’re joining eleven firms that we’d already entered into the directory: Benchmark, Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Greylock, Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel, and NEA. Their entries have all been updated as partners have joined and left, deals have been made, and funds have been raised.
Your exclusive look inside the top Silicon Valley venture capital firms
