{
  "id": 9347141,
  "title": "Bessemer raises $5.75 billion in new funds, expands growth efforts",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/bessemer-raises-5-75-billion-in-new-funds-expands-growth-efforts",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-23T13:56:49.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Economic Times Tech",
    "slug": "economic-times-tech",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/bessemer-raises-5-75-billion-in-new-funds-expands-growth-efforts/articleshow/134440010.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Bessemer Venture Partners is preparing to announce $5.75 billion in new funding to expand its focus on growth stage investments, according to a statement set to be released on Wednesday. The San Francisco-based venture firm will allocate $4 billion of the funds to growth-stage financings, which include capital raised by young companies at high valuations. The remaining $1.75 billion will be directed towards younger startups during their inception phase or shortly after. With assets under management exceeding $20 billion, Bessemer has invested in over 260 companies, including AI-powered search engine Perplexity AI Inc., model maker Anthropic PBC, and inference provider Fireworks AI.\n\nBessemer is shifting its strategy towards growth stage investing due to the needs of AI startups, which require larger capital fundraising to scale up their operations. CEO Byron Deeter noted that \"the AI wave is amplifying it all\" and explained that \"companies are staying private longer, and it's a permanent structural shift.\"\n\nThe total funding will be distributed across various investment vehicles, with a $3.4 billion flagship fund for seed, early-stage, and early growth rounds, slightly smaller than the previous flagship raised at $3.85 billion. Bessemer's growth vehicle, designed for later-stage startups, closed at $1.85 billion, more than double its previous iteration. The remaining $500 million was raised through separate vehicles directly with Bessemer's limited partners. The growth team will allocate the $4 billion across these three funds, targeting around two dozen companies.\n\nDeeter explained that the expansion in Bessemer's growth practice is a response to the increased opportunities in private markets. Earlier this year, the firm participated in Waymo's $16 billion Series D financing at a $126 billion valuation, indicating a shift in their strategy, which previously focused on funding existing portfolio companies. Bessemer joins other venture firms in expanding their growth investing checkbooks, such as Sequoia Capital raising $10 billion in both growth and expansion funds and Menlo Ventures closing its largest fund to date at $3 billion. Bessemer continues to make early-stage investments, including launching Bessemer Beam, a free operational support program for AI scientists starting companies, leading to the creation of over two dozen startups. The firm has also expanded its investor base by hiring AI engineer Lance Co Ting Keh as a venture partner. With the anticipated surge in venture capital activity following the public debuts of OpenAI and Anthropic, Bessemer expects an influx of liquidity in the coming years, which will allow them to deploy the new funds over three to four years.",
  "summary": "The San Francisco-based venture firm is allocating $4 billion of the funds to growth-stage financings, which include funding young companies raising large rounds at high valuations, according to firm partner Byron Deeter. The remaining $1.75 billion will go towards younger startups raising capital at the inception phase or soon after, Deeter said.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}