Battery Ventures: $3.25B bet on the AI era — investor profile

When Battery Ventures announced Battery Ventures XV — a $3.25 billion fund closed in a single close in February 2026 — it sent a clear signal: while many firms are pulling back, Battery is doubling down on what it calls one of the most consequential eras in technology history. The oversubscribed fund will back technology companies globally, with a focus on the US, Europe and Israel.

Overview and thesis

Battery Ventures is a global, technology-focused investment firm founded in 1983 and headquartered in Boston, with additional offices in San Francisco, Menlo Park, New York, London and Tel Aviv. Unlike firms that pick a single stage, Battery pursues a deliberately stage-diversified approach, investing across venture capital and buyout markets as one global team. Its collaborative, research-driven style is pointed at a single conviction: AI is reshaping every layer of the technology stack, so the firm tracks the roadmaps of foundational builders such as OpenAI and Anthropic while backing companies that rebuild products around AI rather than compete with them.

Sectors and stages

Battery invests from seed through early stage, growth equity and buyout. Its sector focus spans application software; infrastructure software including data and AI, developer tools and cybersecurity; industrial technology; and life-science tools. The new fund's mandate is explicitly global, and the firm has completed more than 150 transactions across the UK and 12 European countries since 2005.

Fund size

Battery Ventures XV closed at $3.25 billion in February 2026 in a single, oversubscribed close, with around 80% of the capital coming from existing backers. The fundraise follows 15 announced exit events for Battery in 2025 and more than $10 billion in liquidity realised over the previous five years. Since its founding in 1983, the firm has invested in more than 530 companies globally (excluding seed-stage deals), producing 73 IPOs and more than 225 M&A events through 30 September 2025.

Notable portfolio

Battery is a backer of Databricks, one of the defining data-infrastructure companies of the AI era. Its portfolio companies have delivered 73 IPOs and over 225 acquisitions, a track record built over four decades of technology investing across the US, Europe and Israel.

Partners and team

Battery operates with a long-tenured partnership. General partners include Michael Brown, Neeraj Agrawal, Chelsea Stoner, Dharmesh Thakker and Jesse Feldman, the latter leading the firm's industrial technology and life-science tools practice. In September 2025 the firm promoted Marcus Ryu, co-founder and former CEO of Guidewire Software, to general partner; Zak Ewen, Satoshi Harris-Koizumi and Justin Rosner were promoted to partner during the deployment of the prior fund, and Barak Schoster joined as a partner in the Tel Aviv office.

Programs and resources

Battery runs no separate accelerator-style program; its edge is its research-led model, with partners organised around sector practices and operating as a single global team across venture and buyout. For founders, the practical offer is deep, in-house domain research and a partner team that has lived through multiple technology cycles — from enterprise software to AI — across six offices worldwide.