How Bain Capital Ventures plans to deploy its fresh $1.6B fund

Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), the venture division of private equity firm Bain Capital, has raised a new, $1.6 billion fund, which is 14% larger than its previous $1.4 billion fund the firm announced three years ago.

Like many other venture investors, BCV says it will use the fresh funds to back startups primarily focused on AI. The firm believes artificial general intelligence (AGI), which it defines as agents performing many tasks as well as humans can, has already arrived, and the next wave of startups will not only harness its power, but also build the infrastructure needed to make it run efficiently.

Some of the main themes that will be the most relevant in what the firm calls “the post-AGI era” include infrastructure, healthcare, physical AI, and security, said partner Kevin Zhang. 

He said BCV aims to fund compute infrastructure until intelligence becomes “too cheap to meter,” meaning that the cost of running AI drops to nearly zero. He pointed to one company in BCV’s portfolio that can help with this mission: data center developer Crusoe, which is reportedly valued at $30 billion and viewed as a near-term IPO candidate. BCV originally led Crusoe’s Series A in 2019, back when it focused on crypto mining.

The firm wants to focus on healthcare because it believes the sector may be vastly transformed by AI. Security, meanwhile, has recently become a matter of national debate after AI agents went rogue during training, and BCV believes there’s much potential to bet on in this space. Some of the firm’s significant investments in these sectors include Loyal, a longevity startup aimed at pets, and Dream, an AI-powered defender of national infrastructure.

BCV stands apart from other VC firms, according to Zhang, thanks to its affiliation with Bain Capital, which provides deep 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, the firm’s 11th, BCV intends to invest in 30 to 40 companies, primarily at the seed through Series B stages.  Unlike most VC firms where a single partner champions a deal, BCV’s partners often team up in pairs or trios to back a specific investment, Zhang said.

“We need to have enough mind space and time to really be thoughtful partners to every team we work with,” he said.

View Bio