VC firm Accel has secured $5 billion in fresh capital as it ramps up investments in fast-growing artificial intelligence startups, reports Bloomberg.
The firm plans to allocate $4 billion to its fifth Leaders fund, which focuses on writing large cheques for late-stage companies globally.
In addition, Accel has raised $650 million through a sidecar fund, designed to give investors more exposure to its biggest deals by increasing stakes in select portfolio companies.
Founded in 1983, Accel has a long track record in backing major tech companies early, including Facebook, Spotify, and Atlassian. With this latest raise, the firm is set to expand its already sizeable assets under management.
According to partner Matt Weigand, the firm expects to make around 20 to 25 investments from the new growth fund, with average deal sizes of about $200 million. However, he noted that the biggest investments could grow even larger as competition intensifies in AI.
Accel has already backed several high-profile AI startups. It invested in coding platform Cursor when it was valued under $10 billion, while its earlier bet on Anthropic came at a significantly lower valuation than where the company stands today.
Looking ahead, the firm plans to focus on AI-driven companies operating at the intersection of software and hardware, including sectors such as robotics, defence technology, and infrastructure powering AI data centres.
