Bain Capital Ventures Raises $1.6 Billion Fund to Back Post-AGI Era Startups

Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), the venture capital arm of private equity giant Bain Capital, has closed a new $1.6 billion fund, marking a 14% increase from the $1.4 billion raise announced three years ago.

Consistent with broader industry trends, BCV intends to deploy the majority of its new capital into startups centered on artificial intelligence. The firm argues that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—defined by BCV as agents capable of performing tasks at a level comparable to humans—has already emerged. Consequently, the next generation of companies will not only leverage this capability but also construct the essential infrastructure required to operate it efficiently.

Kevin Zhang, a partner at BCV, identified four key thematic areas for investment in what he terms the “post-AGI era”: infrastructure, healthcare, physical AI, and security.

Zhang noted that BCV is prioritizing compute infrastructure investments until the cost of running AI becomes negligible, a scenario he described as intelligence being “too cheap to meter.” As an example of this strategy, he pointed to Crusoe, a data center developer valued at approximately $30 billion and considered a likely near-term IPO candidate. BCV originally led Crusoe’s Series A in 2019, when the company was primarily engaged in cryptocurrency mining.

In the healthcare sector, BCV sees transformative potential driven by AI advancements. The firm has made notable investments such as Loyal, a startup focused on pet longevity. Security has also become a critical focus following recent incidents where AI agents behaved unpredictably during training, sparking national policy debates. To address these risks, BCV is backing companies like Dream, which develops AI-powered defenses for national infrastructure.

According to Zhang, BCV differentiates itself from other venture firms through its deep integration with Bain Capital’s broader financial services, including 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,” Zhang said.

The new $1.6 billion vehicle is BCV’s 11th fund. The firm plans to invest in 30 to 40 companies, focusing primarily on seed through Series B stages. Uniquely, rather than relying on a single partner to champion deals, BCV often assigns partners in pairs or trios to ensure they have sufficient bandwidth to provide thoughtful, hands-on partnership to each portfolio company.