Bain Capital Ventures, the venture division of private equity firm Bain Capital, has raised a new $1.6 billion fund. The fund is 14% larger than its previous $1.4 billion fund, which the firm announced three years ago.
BCV says it will use the funds to back startups primarily focused on AI. The firm believes artificial general intelligence, which it defines as agents performing many tasks as well as humans can, has already arrived. It says the next wave of startups will harness its power and build the infrastructure needed to make it run efficiently.
Partner Kevin Zhang said the main themes for what the firm calls the post-AGI era include infrastructure, healthcare, physical AI and security. He said BCV aims to fund compute infrastructure until intelligence becomes "too cheap to meter", meaning the cost of running AI drops to nearly zero. He pointed to portfolio company Crusoe, a data centre developer reportedly valued at $30 billion and viewed as a near-term IPO candidate. BCV originally led Crusoe's Series A in 2019, when it focused on crypto mining.
BCV says it wants to focus on healthcare because it believes the sector may be vastly transformed by AI. On security, the firm points to recent national debate after AI agents went rogue during training. Its investments in these sectors include Loyal, a longevity startup aimed at pets, and Dream, an AI-powered defender of national infrastructure.
Zhang said BCV stands apart from other venture firms because of its affiliation with Bain Capital, which provides expertise and financial products across credit, real estate, insurance and private equity. "BCV can support founders not just with equity capital, but with debt facilities, infrastructure partnerships, and real-economy relationships," he said.
From the new fund, its 11th, BCV intends to invest in 30 to 40 companies, primarily at the seed through Series B stages. Zhang said BCV's partners often team up in pairs or trios to back a specific investment, rather than a single partner championing a deal. "We need to have enough mind space and time to really be thoughtful partners to every team we work with," he said.