Felicis Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2006 by Aydin Senkut in Menlo Park and San Francisco. The firm supports audacious founders building iconic companies that transcend boundaries, with a strong focus on backing generational entrepreneurs long before success is obvious
Felicis invests across stages, sectors, and geographies, but is particularly known for its deep involvement in AI-native and frontier technology companies.
Its key thematic areas include artificial intelligence, security, infrastructure, health & biotech, global resilience, and vertical SaaS
In June 2025, Felicis closed Fund X, its largest fund yet, raising $900 million, marking a new peak in its fundraising history.
This is the firm’s tenth flagship vehicle, following a rapid sequence of raises, including $600M in Fund IX and $600M+ prior funds.
Fund X is structured to support early-stage AI-first founders with conviction (over 93% of its capital goes into seed and Series A deals, led or co-led by Felicis itself).
The fund places strong emphasis on transformative AI, cybersecurity, infrastructure as the “railways” of an AI-first world, global resilience (defense, energy), health & biotech, and vertical SaaS.
Felicis expects this fund to back dozens of startups capable of reaching $100B+ valuations during this decade.
Leadership
Felicis was founded by Aydin Senkut, former Google product manager (employee #63) and long-time Midas List investor. The firm has since expanded its ranks to include experienced partners, notably Peter Deng, former Consumer VP on OpenAI’s ChatGPT team, who joined in 2025 to deepen its AI focus.
The team also includes operating partners and executive coaches who support founders’ personal and professional growth.
Investment Strategy
Felicis operates with speed and conviction. It moves quickly, often making decisions rapidly with substantial capital commitments, and backs founders unconditionally, often leading rounds before traction signals emerge.
Unique to the firm is its commitment to founders’ wellbeing: each first check includes +1% of its value committed to executive coaching, therapy, and holistic support.
Felicis also votes alongside founders to maintain alignment and solidarity during critical governance moments.
Notable Investments
Felicis has backed over 717 companies, with more than 50 unicorns including:
Notable Exits
Felicis portfolio includes more than 125 exits to date, featuring public listings and acquisitions:
The firm has achieved some of Venture’s most coveted outcomes: over $220 billion in total market value captured, 19 IPOs, and 8 mega‑unicorns ($5B+ exits) backed at Seed, A, or B stages, compared to a 1% industry unicorn rate.
Other
As part of Fund X, Felicis operates under the belief that the largest wave in tech history, powered by AI, is now upon us. The firm estimates that 70% of its active portfolio is AI-native, and it expects multiple $100B+ companies to emerge this decade.
Felicis also runs programs like Felicis Fellows in AI, which bring together top ML students for mentorship, community, and prototyping, further reinforcing its founder ecosystem.
