Seed Fund: Early-stage seed investments in bold, impactful ventures across deep tech, AI, cleantech, and other… Grant

About this grant

Khosla Ventures' Seed Fund is an early-stage investment vehicle focused on bold, impactful ventures across a wide range of sectors including artificial intelligence, deep tech, cleantech, healthcare, financial infrastructure, and consumer technology. The fund backs founders at the earliest stages, often before revenue or when a company is still considered a 'science project' by the broader investment community. Khosla Ventures emphasizes contrarian bets on world-class teams pursuing ideas that have the potential to transform entire industries. The Seed Fund is one of several investment vehicles at Khosla Ventures, alongside the Main Fund and Opportunity Fund, and is distinguished by its willingness to take on high technical and market risk at the inception stage. The firm provides not just capital but active venture assistance, positioning itself as a hands-on partner that engages deeply with founders through challenges and growth.

Eligibility

Applicants are expected to be early-stage ventures, typically pre-revenue or very early revenue, with world-class founding teams pursuing bold and potentially industry-transforming ideas. There is no explicit geographic restriction stated, though the firm is based in Menlo Park, California, and its portfolio reflects a primarily US-centric focus with some international investments. Sectors of interest include artificial intelligence, deep tech, cleantech, healthcare, financial technology, and consumer technology. The fund appears open to founders regardless of background or network connections.

How it's scored

Khosla Ventures evaluates opportunities based on the ambition and transformative potential of the idea, the quality and capability of the founding team, and the degree to which the venture pursues a contrarian or non-consensus thesis. The firm values brutal honesty and rigorous analysis of real risks and opportunities. They seek founders who have done their homework and are pursuing ideas that could change entire industries, even if they face significant skepticism from others.

Key requirements

• ✓Pre-revenue or early-revenue stage company
• ✓Operating in deep tech, AI, cleantech, or other transformative sectors
• ✓Pursuing bold, contrarian, high-impact solutions

Recent past awardees

Knowing who's won the last rounds tells you whether you're in the strike zone.

• Sword Health
• Nutanix · 2011
• DevRev
• Ultima Genomics
• Rocket Lab
• Homebound
• QuantumScape
• Waabi

Funder contact

The notice names a programme contact you can speak to before applying.

Frequently asked questions

Who can apply for Seed Fund: Early-stage seed investments in bold, impactful ventures across deep tech, AI, cleantech, and other…?

Eligibility covers organisations in GLOBAL; startup. See the eligibility criteria above for the full conditions.

Relevant sectors

About this sector

Climate software and data funding supports emissions accounting, climate risk analytics, Earth observation, digital MRV and tools for planners. It is offered as innovation grants, public contracts for data services and support from technology programmes. Buyers generally look for data quality, interoperability and evidence that users rely on the tool.