The launch of the new fund brings Gradient's assets under management to nearly $1.2bn.
Gradient, a venture capital firm recently spun out from Google’s owner Alphabet, has formed a $220 million seed fund, expanding its total assets under management to nearly $1.2 billion across five funds.
The AI-focused investment firm has backed more than 500 startups and led seed rounds in several notable startups, including CentML (acquired by NVIDIA), Krea, Lambda, Range, Streamlit (acquired by Snowflake) and Writer.
“The excitement from the limited partner community for Gradient’s investment thesis and proven track record has been incredible,” said Darian Shirazi, managing partner at Gradient, in a release. “From the start, our mission has been to help AI founders reach product-market fit and scale what works.”
The new fund marks a shift in Gradient’s investor base. The firm was previously backed solely by Google, which launched Gradient seven years ago as a corporate venture initiative. Google remains a limited partner alongside a broader group of institutional and strategic investors.
“When we started Gradient, Google had deep conviction in the potential of AI and the need for an AI-focused seed fund,” said Zachary Bratun‑Glennon, managing partner at Gradient, in the release. “With Google’s continued support and new investors joining us, Gradient has become the seed platform of choice for AI founders.”
Gradient said it has already begun deploying capital from the new fund into new AI startups this year.
Based in San Francisco, Gradient, which was spun off from its parent Alphabet last year, invests in pre‑seed and seed-stage startups developing applications, agentic platforms, and real‑world systems augmented by AI.
See all the recent deals by Gradient in the CVC Funding Round Database.
