Bain Capital Ventures Raises $1.6 Billion Fund XI To Back AI, Physical AI, Security And Science Startups

Bain Capital Ventures has closed its eleventh venture fund with $1.6 billion in capital, exceeding its fundraising target as the firm increases its backing of early-stage companies building for what it describes as a post-AGI economy.

Bain Capital partners, employees and related entities are among the fund’s largest investors, alongside institutional investors including pensions, endowments and foundations.

Fund XI will concentrate on areas including AI infrastructure, AI applications, physical AI, science, cybersecurity and AI-enabled services.

The strategy continues BCV’s emphasis on investing at early company-formation stages rather than concentrating primarily on later-stage rounds.

More than 82% of the capital deployed from Fund X, which was raised in 2023, went into Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A or Series B financings.

BCV’s AI-related portfolio includes infrastructure companies such as Crusoe and Poolside; applied AI businesses including Cognition, Decagon and Legora; physical AI companies such as Atoms and Sunday Robotics; health companies including Loyal and Forus; security investments such as Adaptive Security and Dream; and AI services businesses including Crosby Legal and Norm.

The firm believes increasingly ambitious AI companies will require more than venture equity as they scale.

As part of Bain Capital’s broader $225 billion investment platform, BCV can connect startups with debt financing, infrastructure relationships, operational resources and connections across sectors of the physical economy.

That could become particularly important for AI infrastructure and physical AI companies where growth requires substantial capital for computing, manufacturing, energy or other real-world assets.

Bain Capital Ventures was founded in 2001, while the broader Bain Capital platform dates to 1984 and now has more than 2,000 employees across 24 offices on four continents.

“AI will transform our world in ways we’ve only begun to experience and we’ve been investing against that idea for the past decade, starting with early investments in Crusoe and Moveworks. We continue to focus our entire team on finding and actively supporting the most ambitious founders with our deep connectivity to the real economy, scaled approach to capital and a differentiated platform services offering.”

Enrique Salem, Co-Managing Partner of Bain Capital Ventures