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World's top VC investors by involvement in high-value startups, value created per dollar, early conviction, and ownership quality.

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Joshua KushnerJoshua Kushner
1
Top Company
OpenAI
Firm
Thrive Capital
Firm AUM
$50B
Notable Companies
OpenAICursorPhysical IntelligenceStripe
Description
  • Founder of Thrive Capital with exceptional early conviction in transformative AI companies
  • Led multiple early rounds in OpenAI and category-defining application-layer bets
  • Consistently backs founders before AI outcomes are obvious to the broader market
Peter ThielPeter Thiel
2
Top Company
SpaceX
Firm
Founders Fund
Firm AUM
$17B
Notable Companies
SpaceXPalantirFacebookStripe
Description
  • Co-founder of Founders Fund with defining early conviction in SpaceX and other generational platforms
  • Among the earliest institutional backers of SpaceX when commercial space was still widely dismissed
  • Known for contrarian, high-upside bets on founders reshaping core infrastructure and technology
Yasmin RazaviYasmin Razavi
3
Top Company
Anthropic
Firm
Spark Capital
Firm AUM
$4.5B
Notable Companies
AnthropicTwitterOculusCoinbase
Description
  • General partner at Spark Capital with standout early conviction in AI foundation models
  • Early lead investor in Anthropic when frontier-model risk was still widely debated
  • Strong track record backing generational companies across AI, consumer, and infrastructure
Ravi MhatreRavi Mhatre
4
Top Company
Anthropic
Firm
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Firm AUM
$44B
Notable Companies
AnthropicMistral AIGleanSafe Superintelligence
Description
  • Co-founder and managing partner at Lightspeed with deep AI foundation-model conviction
  • Early lead investor in Anthropic and strong international AI coverage
  • Known for backing frontier-model and enterprise AI infrastructure companies early
Matt MurphyMatt Murphy
5
Top Company
Anthropic
Firm
Menlo Ventures
Firm AUM
$6B
Notable Companies
AnthropicLovableMercorRoku
Description
  • Managing partner at Menlo Ventures with standout early conviction in AI foundation models
  • Key partner-level role in Menlo's early Anthropic investment when frontier-model risk was still widely debated
  • Strong enterprise AI and developer-tools track record backing category-defining companies early
Luke NosekLuke Nosek
6
Top Company
SpaceX
Firm
Gigafund
Firm AUM
$2B
Notable Companies
SpaceXPalantirNeuralinkAnduril
Description
  • Co-founder of Gigafund with defining early conviction in SpaceX and other capital-intensive deep-tech platforms
  • Helped structure some of the earliest institutional bets in SpaceX alongside Peter Thiel
  • Long track record backing founders building durable, generational technology companies
Martin CasadoMartin Casado
7
Top Company
Cursor
Firm
Andreessen Horowitz
Firm AUM
$90B
Notable Companies
CursorDatabricksMistral AIThinking Machines Lab
Description
  • General partner at Andreessen Horowitz with deep enterprise and developer-infrastructure conviction
  • Key partner-level role in backing Cursor as a category-defining AI application company
  • Combines technical operating experience with early conviction in AI-native software workflows
Vinod KhoslaVinod Khosla
8
Top Company
OpenAI
Firm
Khosla Ventures
Firm AUM
$15B
Notable Companies
OpenAIDoorDashImpossible FoodsAnthropic
Description
  • Founder of Khosla Ventures with decades of conviction on technology inflection points
  • Among the earliest institutional backers of OpenAI and other category-defining platforms
  • Combines technical depth with willingness to fund contrarian, high-upside AI bets
Eric VishriaEric Vishria
9
Top Company
Cerebras
Firm
Benchmark
Firm AUM
$9B
Notable Companies
CerebrasConfluentAmplitudeSnap
Description
  • General partner at Benchmark with deep conviction in AI compute and infrastructure platforms
  • Key partner-level role in backing Cerebras as a category-defining AI chip company
  • Long track record identifying generational infrastructure bets before they reach mainstream scale
Gili RaananGili Raanan
10
Top Company
Wiz
Firm
Cyberstarts
Firm AUM
$1.4B
Notable Companies
WizCyeraFireblocksNoname Security
Description
  • Founder of Cyberstarts with standout early conviction in category-defining cybersecurity companies
  • Key partner-level role in backing Wiz—among the highest-value cybersecurity exits in history
  • Built one of the most concentrated portfolios of generational security startups globally

The Earthian Alchemist List 2026 ranks individual VC partners—not firms—based on the same principles as Earthian's AI Venture Capital Ranking:

  • Firm: The venture capital firm where the partner holds a leadership or general partner role
  • Firm AUM: Total assets under management at the partner's firm, as a proxy for institutional scale
  • Notable Companies: Category-defining companies where the partner demonstrated early conviction or lead-investor ownership
  • Ranking Methodology: Prioritizes early conviction before outcomes were obvious, ownership quality in frontier AI companies, and value created per dollar—applied at the individual partner level

Frequently Asked Questions

Joshua Kushner leads because of Thrive Capital's exceptional early conviction in OpenAI and other transformative AI companies including Cursor and Physical Intelligence. His repeated lead-investor roles in category-defining AI bets generated the highest partner-level value creation in Earthian's 2026 Alchemist List.
Peter Thiel ranks second as co-founder of Founders Fund with defining early conviction in SpaceX—among the highest-value private companies in the world—and a broader track record in Palantir, Facebook, and Stripe.
Yasmin Razavi ranks third as a general partner at Spark Capital with standout early lead conviction in Anthropic, plus a broader track record in generational companies including Twitter, Oculus, and Coinbase.
Ravi Mhatre ranks fourth for early lead conviction in Anthropic alongside strong international AI bets in Mistral AI, Glean, and Safe Superintelligence at Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Matt Murphy ranks fifth as managing partner at Menlo Ventures with a key partner-level role in Menlo's early Anthropic investment and strong conviction in enterprise AI bets including Lovable and Mercor.
Luke Nosek ranks sixth as co-founder of Gigafund with defining early conviction in SpaceX and other capital-intensive deep-tech platforms, building on his track record from the earliest institutional bets in SpaceX.
Martin Casado ranks seventh as a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz with a key partner-level role in backing Cursor and deep conviction in AI-native enterprise and developer-infrastructure bets.
Vinod Khosla ranks eighth for among the earliest institutional conviction in OpenAI and a broader track record backing frontier AI platforms through Khosla Ventures.
Eric Vishria ranks ninth as a general partner at Benchmark with a key partner-level role in backing Cerebras and a long infrastructure track record.
Gili Raanan ranks tenth as founder of Cyberstarts with standout early conviction in Wiz—among the highest-value cybersecurity exits in history—and a concentrated portfolio of generational security startups.
Earthian's AI Venture Capital Ranking ranks firms by ecosystem value and lead-investor activity. The Alchemist List ranks individual partners—general partners and founders—who drive those firm-level outcomes. A firm may rank highly while a specific partner's personal conviction and ownership quality determine their Alchemist List position.
The 2026 list is updated as major funding rounds, lead-investor positions, and valuation milestones are confirmed across Earthian's proprietary capital markets and risk inference datasets.