Ex-Trump AI Adviser Sriram Krishnan Targets Raising a $500 Million Venture Fund

Sriram Krishnan, a key AI adviser to President Donald Trump who left the White House in June, is raising an AI-focused venture fund, according to three people familiar with the matter. The fund will target raising around $500 million to invest in growth- and later-stage companies, the people said.

Before joining the Trump administration, Krishnan worked for tech companies including Microsoft and Twitter. He later became a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he helped launch the venture firm’s London office. At the White House, Krishnan worked under AI and crypto czar David Sacks on the administration’s AI policy, helping to spearhead its AI action plan, released in July 2025.

Krishnan will serve as the sole general partner, said one of the people familiar with the matter. The firm will have a focus on U.S.-based AI companies that advance U.S. technological leadership, with a priority on areas such as national and cyber security. Drawing on Krishnan’s policy background, the firm will target companies with public-private collaboration opportunities, modeled after industries like aerospace, where firms often partner with agencies such as NASA.

It couldn’t be learned which companies the firm is considering investing in. The fund is in its formative stage, two of the people said, with no set timeline for a launch or first close. One of the people said it plans to start making investments by the end of this year. Prospective investors will include endowments and other institutional investors, said two of the people.

While $500 million would be sizable for a first fund, it will be competing with much larger investment vehicles aimed at mature companies. It couldn’t be learned if Krishnan will invite his LPs to co-invest, an increasingly popular strategy used as round sizes jumped.

When building its roster of AI and tech staff, the Trump administration staffed heavily from the private sector, most notably Sacks, a venture capitalist and host of the influential All-In podcast. Many have returned to venture firms and tech companies ahead of November’s midterm elections, a common exit point for administration staffers.

That includes Sacks, who left the administration in March. His venture firm Craft Ventures is targeting a new $1 billion fund, The Information previously reported. Sihao Huang, a top staffer at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, recently joined Anthropic as the head of frontier compute strategy, and Thomas Lind, an AI policy adviser in the Office of the National Cyber Director, joined OpenAI’s national security team, The Information previously reported.

Krishnan’s new effort comes at a pivotal time for the AI industry. Anthropic is poised to go public around November, a potential bellwether for the sector’s financial health, amid regulatory debates over how to effectively supervise the rapidly evolving technology.

One of the people familiar with Krishnan’s venture effort, who is also in talks to invest in the fund, believes that Krishnan’s background as a former operator, investor and policymaker will be valuable for companies trying to navigate the complex regulatory environment. The person said they’ve been fielding significant interest from institutional investors seeking to learn more about Krishnan and the firm.

After working at an array of Silicon Valley companies, Krishnan joined Andreessen Horowitz in 2021 to invest in consumer and social startups. A welcome post from Marc Andreessen also cited his experience as an adviser to companies including Figma and Notion. At Andreessen Horowitz, Krishnan was involved in the firm’s $400 million investment into Twitter as part of Elon Musk’s $44 billion October 2022 buyout and helped Musk restructure the company. He later worked on Andreessen Horowitz’s cryptocurrency team and opened the firm’s London office in 2023.

Krishnan had considered starting his own fund before deciding to join the Trump administration, according to three people familiar with the matter. Trump’s selection of Krishnan as a senior AI adviser sparked a significant outcry from far-right influencers including Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz, both of whom used the pick to criticize skilled visa programs. Krishnan immigrated to the United States from India in 2007 and became a U.S. citizen in 2016. As a result of the backlash, Krishnan’s appointment drew bipartisan support from figures including Elon Musk and Ro Khanna, the Democratic congressman from Silicon Valley.

Krishnan’s time in the White House coincided with a more hands off approach toward AI policy, spearheaded by Sacks. The AI action plan emphasized a federal preemption of state efforts to regulate AI, and it incentivized the buildout of data centers through permitting reform. Krishnan also took part in White House delegations to international summits in France, India and the Middle East.

He left the White House amid a reorientation in the administration’s light-touch approach to the technology, spurred by the announcement of Anthropic’s powerful Mythos model in April. Concerns about AI cyber capabilities drew in other senior officials such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the development of a voluntary White House AI framework to test models before they are deployed.

Krishnan’s new firm will likely build a team of people with similar backgrounds from both public policy and Silicon Valley, said one of the people.

Leo Schwartz is a reporter covering the intersection of tech and politics. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at leomschwartz.24