Forbes Lists Eight Early Investors in AI Companies on 2026 Midas List
The 2026 Midas List ranks venture investors based on early positions in companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX and Anduril. Forbes published profiles of eight investors whose initial checks predate widespread institutional interest in artificial intelligence.
financialpost.comForbes published its 2026 Midas List on May 27, highlighting eight venture investors whose early commitments to artificial intelligence companies preceded broader market participation. The list notes that artificial intelligence firms now represent a large share of private-market value, with funding rounds for foundation models, inference infrastructure and autonomous systems described as oversubscribed.
Khosla of Khosla Ventures ranks first.
His firm placed a $50 million investment in OpenAI in 2019 at roughly a $1 billion valuation. Khosla Ventures manages about $15 billion and also backed Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Sword Health. Elad Gil of Gil & Co. ranks sixth. 1 million seed round in 2022.
His holdings include Cognition and Harvey. Trae Stephens of Founders Fund ranks seventh. 5 billion valuation. Stephens also backed Flock Safety, Gecko Robotics and OpenAI. Mamoon Hamid of Kleiner Perkins ranks twelfth. The firm backed Glean after an 18-month internal incubation and invested in Alif Semiconductor and Retym.
Yasmin Razavi of Spark Capital ranks thirteenth. The profile cuts off before detailing her full list of investments.
Key Facts
Story Timeline
4 events- 2019
Khosla Ventures invested $50 million in OpenAI at roughly $1 billion valuation.
1 source@Forbes - 2022
Elad Gil co-led Perplexity AI’s $3.1 million seed round.
1 source@Forbes - 2025
Founders Fund wrote a $1 billion check into Anduril at $30.5 billion valuation.
1 source@Forbes - May 27, 2026
Forbes published the 2026 Midas List ranking eight early AI investors.
1 source@Forbes
Potential Impact
- 01
Additional capital may flow to AI infrastructure and application startups.
- 02
Later-stage investors may face higher entry valuations for AI companies.
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