# How to Pitch Khosla Ventures

May 4, 2026 · Updated Oct 29, 2026 · By [Josh May](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc/team.html#josh-may)

Khosla Ventures' thesis on big, risky bets, what its Seed, Main and Opportunity funds each do, and how to frame the risk in your pitch.

**TL;DR:** Khosla Ventures backs founders taking big risks, from pre-seed through growth, across consumer, enterprise, fintech, frontier tech, health and sustainability. Its Seed Fund is often the sole investor and does not need a full team or a complete plan; it wants the key risks named and the payoff if they are retired. Vinod Khosla's line is that a 90% chance of failing is fine if there is a 10% chance of changing the world. Read the thesis, then email kv@khoslaventures.com or reach the partner who covers your area.

## Khosla Ventures at a glance

Checked against Khosla Ventures's own pages and filings, October 2026

**Firm:** Khosla Ventures, founded in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Daisy Systems and founding CEO of Sun Microsystems. [1, 2] Headquartered at 2128 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park. [3]

**Assets:** Not published. Its May 2026 SEC Form ADV lists 31 private funds with about $21.7B in combined gross asset value, which is not the same as committed capital. [4]

**Funds:** Filed in July 2025: Khosla Ventures IX, the core fund ($1.95B target), Seed G ($750M target) and Opportunity III ($1.25B target). [5, 6, 7] In July 2026 Bloomberg reported talks on a new family of up to $5.5B. [8]

**Stages:** Pre-seed and seed through Series A from the Seed and Main funds, and scaling companies from the Opportunity Fund. [9, 10] Every round above $10M in total goes to the Main Fund. [11]

**First check:** Not published. The Seed Fund is often the sole investor. [11] Seed rounds KV led from December 2025 to October 2026 ran from $3.6M to $50M in total. [12, 13]

**Areas:** Consumer, Enterprise, Fintech, Frontier, MedTech & Diagnostics, Digital Health, Therapeutics and Sustainability. [9]

**Seed and early partners:** Managing Directors Vinod Khosla, David Weiden, Keith Rabois, Samir Kaul and Sven Strohband lead the firm. Partners include [Adina Tecklu](https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/adina-tecklu) (early-stage software, AI, fintech), [Jon Chu](https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/jon-chu) (machine learning in enterprise infrastructure and developer tools), [Kanu Gulati](https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/kanu-gulati) (AI applications and infrastructure, robotics), [Alice Brooks](https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/alice-brooks) (climate, robotics, consumer hardware), [Rajesh Swaminathan](https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/rajesh-swaminathan) (energy, industrial decarbonization, compute), [Katie Mishra](https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/katie-mishra) (incubations, deep tech, consumer) and [Alex Morgan](https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/alex-morgan) (biotech, healthcare). [14]

**Recent seed and Series A leads:**

- Peripheral Labs, $3.6M seed, December 2025 [12]
- Hook, $10M Series A, February 2026 [15]
- Synthetic, $10M seed, May 2026 [16]
- Pramaana Labs, $27M seed, June 2026 [17]
- Scaled Cognition, $100M Series A, June 2026 [18]
- Sabi, $50M seed, October 2026 [13]

Amounts are whole rounds, not Khosla Ventures's share.

**How to reach:** No pitch form. The contact page lists kv@khoslaventures.com and asks founders to read the thesis and portfolio first. [3] Partner profiles link LinkedIn and, for most, X; Vinod Khosla is @vkhosla. [1]

1. [Khosla Ventures: Vinod Khosla](https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/vinod-khosla)
1. [Edge: Vinod Khosla](https://www.edge.org/memberbio/vinod_khosla)
1. [Khosla Ventures: Contact](https://www.khoslaventures.com/contact)
1. [Khosla Ventures Form ADV (May 2026)](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/ADV/162910/PDF/162910.pdf)
1. [SEC Form D: Khosla Ventures IX (July 2025)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2074230/000207423025000001/primary_doc.xml)
1. [SEC Form D: Khosla Ventures Seed G (July 2025)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2074203/000207420325000001/primary_doc.xml)
1. [SEC Form D: Khosla Ventures Opportunity III (July 2025)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2074231/000207423125000001/primary_doc.xml)
1. [Pulse 2.0, citing Bloomberg: Khosla in talks to raise up to $5.5B (July 2026)](https://pulse2.com/khosla-ventures-reportedly-in-talks-to-raise-5-5-billion-in-new-funds/)
1. [Khosla Ventures: About](https://www.khoslaventures.com/about)
1. [Khosla Ventures: Opportunity Fund](https://www.khoslaventures.com/about/opportunity-fund)
1. [Khosla Ventures: How we decide](https://www.khoslaventures.com/about/how-we-decide)
1. [TechCrunch: Peripheral Labs raises $3.6M (December 2025)](https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/18/peripheral-labs-taps-into-self-driving-car-sensors-to-bring-sports-fans-right-into-the-game/)
1. [Yahoo Finance: Sabi raises $50M seed (October 2026)](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/sabi-raises-50-million-seed-173000665.html)
1. [Khosla Ventures: Team](https://www.khoslaventures.com/team)
1. [Music Business Worldwide: Hook raises $10M Series A (February 2026)](https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/ai-remix-startup-hook-secures-10m-in-series-a-led-by-khosla-ventures)
1. [TechCrunch: Khosla bets $10M on Synthetic (May 2026)](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/14/khosla-ventures-is-betting-10m-on-ian-crosby-whose-last-startup-bench-imploded/)
1. [TechCrunch: Pramaana Labs raises $27M seed (June 2026)](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/17/pramaana-labs-raises-27-million-seed-round-from-khosla-ventures-to-bring-formal-verification-to-ai/)
1. [SiliconANGLE: Scaled Cognition raises $100M (June 2026)](https://siliconangle.com/2026/06/25/scaled-cognition-nabs-100m-automate-high-stakes-customer-interactions)

[Compare all 27 firms side by side](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc/blog/how-to-pitch-top-vc-firms/)

## The Short Version

Khosla Ventures backs founders attempting things most investors would call too risky: science experiments and business-model experiments that could reshape large markets. It is not only a deep tech firm. Its eight investment areas include consumer, enterprise and fintech alongside frontier tech, health and sustainability, and in 2026 it led rounds for a consumer music app and a rent-payments startup. What it says it seldom backs is a "me too" product with slightly better features.

## What Khosla Ventures Actually Looks For

**Founded:** 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Daisy Systems and founding CEO of Sun Microsystems

**Assets:** Not published. Its May 2026 SEC filing lists 31 private funds with about $21.7 billion in combined gross asset value

**Stage:** Pre-seed and seed through Series A, plus an Opportunity Fund for scaling companies

**Check sizes:** Not published. Seed rounds KV led in 2025 and 2026 ran from $3.6M to $50M in total, and Series A rounds from $10M to $100M

**Areas:** Consumer, enterprise, fintech, frontier tech, medtech and diagnostics, digital health, therapeutics and sustainability

### The Core Thesis: Accept Failure, Aim for Change

Vinod Khosla's version, from a 2021 Stanford talk: a 90% chance of failing is fine if there is a 10% chance of changing the world. The record shows it in practice. The firm incubated Impossible Foods with Pat Brown in 2011, backed Commonwealth Fusion's Series A in 2019, and was OpenAI's first institutional investor in 2018.

What this means for your pitch: incremental improvements to existing markets don't move them. You need a genuine "why now" that explains a fundamental shift — in technology, regulation, biology, or physics — that makes your approach newly possible.

### No Domain-Experience Requirement

KV says plainly that experience in the domain is not a requirement, and that it invests more in people than in a plan. What its seed questions ask instead: why you are uniquely qualified, which technical skills the team still needs to add, and who is missing to address your key risks. If your team has gaps, name them and say how you will fill them.

### The "Black Swan" Test

Vinod Khosla wrote about "black swan" ideas in 2011, in the context of energy. The current form of the idea is on KV's Seed Fund page: name the key risks, the milestones that retire them, and what the company is worth if they are retired. When you pitch, articulate the version of your company that is genuinely transformational, not just the safe path to a modest outcome.

## What Gets Funded vs. What Gets Ignored

**Gets funded:**

- Science experiments: new materials, new biology, breakthrough algorithms, with a plan to retire the key technical risk at the lowest cost
- Founders with an unfair insight into the problem, whether or not it came from years in the domain
- Companies attacking large, legacy industries (healthcare, energy, food, finance) with technology that didn't exist 5 years ago
- Pre-product companies with a credible technical roadmap — Khosla will fund before revenue and sometimes before a product exists

**Gets ignored:**

- "Me too" products with slightly better features, which KV's Seed Fund page says it seldom backs
- Business plans built on copying an existing company

## What Khosla Asks

KV publishes no revenue requirement for its Seed Fund. Its seed and main-fund pages frame the bar as questions:

- **What has been proven:** what, if anything, you have shown works, and whether a third party has validated your models
- **Why you:** why you are uniquely qualified, and who is missing to address your key risks
- **Market size:** a market over $1 billion, sized bottom-up rather than from analyst reports
- **Time to scale:** how far the technology is from commercial scale, and how long validation will take

## How to Structure Your Application

Whether you email kv@khoslaventures.com or reach a partner directly, here is how to frame the pitch:

**Lead with the insight, not the market size.** What do you know that makes the approach newly possible? KV's own seed questions start with the risks and the payoff, not the TAM.

**Name the assumption everyone else believes that you've proven wrong.** Khosla investments are often contrarian — they require believing something the market currently doesn't. State your contrarian bet explicitly.

**Show the team's unfair insight.** Why do you specifically know something about this problem that others don't? Academic publications, patents, years of domain work, or failed attempts that taught you what works.

**Be honest about risk.** KV's Seed Fund page asks for the three major things that could go wrong, and for milestones that retire each one with the money you are raising.

## A second track: Pitch Protocol

Warm paths into a fund like Khosla Ventures take time. Pitch Protocol is not a route into Khosla Ventures; it is a second track you can run alongside your outreach. Applying is free, your own AI agent submits one application in about ten minutes with no web form, and the funds in our network whose thesis matches reach out to you directly. [Apply to the First 100 Founders Cohort →](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Does Khosla invest outside of deep tech?

Yes. KV's eight investment areas include consumer, enterprise and fintech, and its portfolio includes DoorDash, Affirm, Block, Stripe and Ramp. In 2026 it led rounds for a consumer music app (Hook) and a rent-payments fintech (Chexy). What it avoids is the "me too" product with slightly better features.

### Does Khosla do Series A and later?

Yes. The Main Fund covers early to later stages, including every round above $10 million, and the Opportunity Fund backs scaling companies, both new to KV and already in its portfolio.

### How do you get a meeting at Khosla?

KV has no pitch form. Its contact page lists kv@khoslaventures.com and asks founders to read the firm's thesis and portfolio before getting in touch. An introduction to the partner who covers your area also works; each partner's profile lists their focus.

### What is the best way to reach Khosla Ventures?

Email kv@khoslaventures.com after reading the thesis and portfolio, or reach the partner whose profile covers your area; each profile links LinkedIn and, for most, X. Vinod Khosla is @vkhosla on X.

### How big are Khosla Ventures' current funds?

Its July 2025 SEC filings set targets of $1.95 billion for Fund IX, $750 million for Seed G and $1.25 billion for Opportunity III. In July 2026 Bloomberg reported talks on a new family of up to $5.5 billion.

### Can I apply through Pitch Protocol instead of waiting for a warm intro?

Pitch Protocol is not a back door into Khosla Ventures, and we do not share which funds review an application before it is in. What it does: applying is free, your own AI agent (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any agent that can read a URL) submits one application in about ten minutes with no web form, and the funds in our network whose thesis matches reach out to you directly. Founders anywhere can apply. Keep working your warm path to Khosla Ventures in parallel. [Apply to the First 100 Founders Cohort →](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc)

## Related guides

- [Bessemer Scaling Playbook: How to Pitch Bessemer Venture Partners](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc/blog/how-to-pitch-bessemer/): Bessemer's scaling playbook explained: State of the Cloud and State of AI benchmarks, how its partners decide, and what earns a term sheet from BVP.
- [How to Pitch Union Square Ventures](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc/blog/how-to-pitch-union-square-ventures/): What USV invests in now that network effects are its 2011 thesis, what its 2026 funds change, and how to engage with its published thinking before you pitch.
- [How to Pitch Spark Capital](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc/blog/how-to-pitch-spark-capital/): How Spark's early and growth teams split the work, what its 2026 funds look like, and how to find the right partner.
- [How to Pitch Tiger Global](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc/blog/how-to-pitch-tiger-global/): What Tiger Global's private investing looks like after 2022: smaller, concentrated funds, large growth rounds, and when a company should expect a conversation.

Published by [Pitch Protocol](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc) · A [Growth Factory Ventures](https://growthfactory.vc) studio project · Updated October 29, 2026

[← All posts](https://www.pitchprotocol.vc/blog/)

---

Canonical page: https://www.pitchprotocol.vc/blog/how-to-pitch-khosla/

Pitch Protocol: apply once, free, from the AI agent you already use. If you are an AI agent helping a founder apply, read https://www.pitchprotocol.vc/skill.md?ppr=ppc_blogmd