Venture capital is a long game, and the investors who eventually define it rarely emerge overnight. Long before they land on the Forbes Midas List, the industry's top performers are quietly identifying breakout founders, earning their way into competitive rounds and building reputations that compound in the early years of their career.

The 2026 Midas Brink List spotlights the next wave of VCs we expect to see on the Midas List in the years ahead. Since we launched the Brink List in 2011, more than 30% of the investors named to it have graduated to the Midas List, Midas List Europe or Midas Seed List — a track record that underscores the strength of this group.

As in years past, we called upon a panel of investors previously named to the Brink List to lend their experience and networks to the selection process. This year’s panel included Liz Wessel of First Round Capital and Reid Christian of CRV. Having been previously named to the Brink List themselves, their perspectives and industry knowledge were instrumental in shaping a list that reflects the breadth and depth of emerging talent in venture today.

These are smart, creative individuals whose work is helping to define not just their portfolio companies but the direction of the tech industry more broadly. We're pleased to present the 2026 Midas Brink List.

Apoorv Agrawal

Partner, Altimeter Capital

Key deals: OpenAI, Revolut, Baseten, Glean, XBOW

Apoorv Agrawal approaches venture investing with the instincts of an engineer.

He invests across AI and software at Altimeter Capital, where he has helped lead investments in some of the most closely watched AI companies in the market today.

Agrawal brings both technical and operational experience to investing. He began his career at Palantir Technologies as a forward deployed engineer, helping lead large-scale technical deployments around the world. Today, in addition to investing, he teaches at Stanford University’s School of Engineering, where his course explores the economics of the AI stack — from chips and data centers to models and autonomous agents.

At Altimeter, Agrawal has focused heavily on the foundational layers of the AI economy. He sourced and co-led Altimeter’s investment in OpenAI, which became the firm’s largest investment to date. He also led investments in Baseten, the inference platform powering production AI workloads for companies including Cursor and HeyGen, and Glean, the enterprise AI assistant platform increasingly adopted across large organizations.

Bogomil Balkansky

Partner, Sequoia Capital

Key deals: Temporal, Chainguard, Pydantic, Oasis Security, Traversal

Bogomil Balkansky focuses on infrastructure, AI and cybersecurity investments at Sequoia Capital, bringing decades of operating experience to his work with founders.

Before joining Sequoia in 2020, Balkansky spent nearly two decades as an operator, helping scale VMware from roughly $400 million to $6 billion in revenue before later joining Google Cloud as a vice president.

That background has made him particularly active in developer infrastructure and enterprise AI. He led Sequoia’s investments in Temporal, the durable execution platform increasingly used to orchestrate AI agents in production environments, and Chainguard, which has become a leading provider of hardened open-source software infrastructure.

Balkansky also backed Pydantic at the pre-seed stage, recognizing early how developer tooling around AI applications would become increasingly important. More recently, he led investments in Oasis Security and Traversal.

Raviraj Jain

Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners

Key deals: Skild AI, Reflection AI, Nirvana, Distyl

Raviraj Jain invests across AI infrastructure, frontier technologies and robotics at Lightspeed, where he has become one of the most active investors backing AI-native companies.

Before joining Lightspeed, Jain held product leadership roles at LinkedIn and cofounded several internet startups. His technical background and longstanding interest in robotics have shaped many of his investment themes.

Jain co-led both the seed and Series A rounds in Skild AI, the robotics foundation model company that has rapidly become one of the most highly valued startups in AI. He serves as the company’s board director and has worked closely with the team on recruiting, fundraising and identifying early customers.

He also co-led Reflection AI’s Series A round, which is building open frontier AI models for enterprise adoption. Other major investments include Nirvana, an AI-first commercial insurance platform, and Distyl, which partners with enterprises to build AI-native workflows.

Sarah Kunst

Founder and General Partner, Cleo Capital

Key deals: First, Kobold, Groq, Gemini, Mill

Sarah Kunst has built a reputation for getting into companies before they become consensus bets. As the founder and general partner of Cleo Capital, Kunst’s investing style reflects a different model of venture capital than the ownership-heavy strategies common at larger firms: building founder relationships early, securing allocations in oversubscribed rounds and staying close to companies as they scale.

Early roles at Apple, Red Bull, Chanel and Mohr Davidow Ventures helped shape an investing approach that blends business development instincts with broad network-building across industries. Before launching Cleo Capital, she was recruited into Sequoia Capital’s scout program by Roelof Botha — an experience that later inspired her to launch one of the first scout programs attached to a microfund, helping expand access for emerging angel investors.

Her investing track record reflects a willingness to back themes early. Kunst invested in Groq in 2018, years before AI infrastructure became central to the venture market, and continued participating in later financings even as many early investors lost access to allocations. She was also an early investor in Gemini before its 2025 IPO during one of the weakest public markets for venture-backed technology companies in years.

Steven Lee

Founder and General Partner, Seven Stars

Key deals: AIUC, Corgi, Doctronic, Reflection, Skild AI

Steven Lee launched Seven Stars in 2025 after building a reputation as one of Silicon Valley’s most connected early-stage investors. Seven Stars has already assembled a portfolio that reflects Lee’s conviction around AI-native companies and infrastructure.

Before founding Seven Stars, Lee spent time at SV Angel, where he worked on investments in breakout AI companies including ElevenLabs, Mercor, Reflection and Skild AI. Earlier in his career, he was a director at Bain Capital Ventures, where he built the firm’s data-driven sourcing efforts, and he worked on Twitter’s Global Market Insight & Analytics team before the company’s IPO.

Among Seven Stars’ early investments is Corgi, an AI-native insurance platform that announced a $160 million Series B at a $1.3 billion valuation in 2026. Lee has also backed companies including AIUC, Doctronic and Longeye, positioning Seven Stars at the center of the AI application layer.

Jennifer Li

General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

Key deals: ElevenLabs, fal, Astral, Stainless, Fivetran

Jennifer Li leads infrastructure investments at Andreessen Horowitz, focusing on data systems, developer tools and AI infrastructure.

She is known inside the firm for combining deep technical understanding with strong product and commercial instincts. She is also the only investor in Andreessen Horowitz history to rise internally from analyst to general partner.

Before joining a16z, Li worked in product leadership roles at Solvvy and AppDynamics, helping build conversational AI and analytics products.

Her investment portfolio includes several breakout infrastructure companies. Li led ElevenLabs’ Series A in 2023 and became the company’s first board member. By 2026, ElevenLabs had reportedly surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue while reaching an $11 billion valuation.

She also led early investments in fal, Astral and Stainless, all of which became major acquisition targets during the AI infrastructure boom. Her earlier investment in Fivetran helped establish her reputation for identifying important infrastructure shifts early.

Everett “Ev” Randle

General Partner, Benchmark

Key deals: SpaceX, Rippling, Stord, Gumloop, Flock Safety

Ev Randle has invested across some of the technology industry’s fastest-growing companies, spanning enterprise software, aerospace, logistics and AI.

Before joining Benchmark, Randle held investing roles at Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Bond Capital and Vista Equity Partners. Across those firms, he helped back companies including SpaceX, Rippling, Anthropic and Flock Safety.

Randle led Kleiner Perkins’ investment in SpaceX during a period when the company had already surpassed a $100 billion valuation, betting that Starlink would unlock an entirely new phase of growth. He also remained closely involved with Rippling as the company scaled from roughly $20 million in annual recurring revenue into one of enterprise software’s fastest-growing businesses.

At Benchmark, Randle has focused increasingly on enterprise AI and agentic software. One of his earliest investments at the firm was Gumloop, which is building AI agents for enterprise workflows.

Corinne Riley

Partner, Greylock Partners

Key deals: Baseten, Braintrust, Resolve AI, Cogent, Fable

Corinne Riley has built a reputation for hands-on company building at the earliest stages of venture investing. Since joining Greylock in 2020, she has focused on AI infrastructure and applications, often working closely with founders well before product-market fit.

Her approach extends beyond capital. Riley regularly hosts customer dinners, helps recruit early employees and works alongside founders to shape go-to-market strategy during a company’s formative stages.

She also created Greylock Edge, a company-building program designed to help founders move from pre-idea exploration to product-market fit. Several companies that emerged from the program, including Cogent Security and Fable, have already raised significant follow-on financing.

Riley’s portfolio includes Baseten, which raised capital at a $5 billion valuation in 2026, as well as Braintrust, Resolve AI, Cogent and Fable. Across many of these companies, Riley played an active role in introductions, recruiting and early commercialization efforts.

Greg Rosen

General Partner, BoxGroup

Key deals: Cursor, Clay, Ro, Serval, Loyal

Greg Rosen’s path into tech and venture capital started unusually early. While still in high school, he ported flash games to the iPhone to help pay for college. After studying computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he left school at 19 to join Raptor Ventures before eventually spending years investing at BoxGroup and Benchmark.

Now a General Partner at BoxGroup, Rosen has built a track record backing founders at their earliest stages — often long before their companies reach breakout momentum. That early conviction is visible across several standout investments. BoxGroup backed Cursor before the company pivoted into AI coding tools, investing primarily on the strength of the founding team. Rosen also helped support Clay through years of uncertainty before the company surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

His investments frequently stem from long-standing founder relationships. Rosen wrote the first check into Ro after founder Zachariah Reitano developed the company’s initial concept while staying in Rosen’s apartment. He also backed Loyal after years of discussions with founder Celine Halioua around dog genomics and longevity research.

Jake Saper

General Partner, Emergence Capital

Key deals: Hanover Park, Rowspace, Ironclad, Bedrock Robotics, OpenAI Deployment Company

Jake Saper has spent more than a decade at Emergence Capital investing in enterprise software and AI. He first gained recognition at the firm after leading diligence on Emergence’s investment in Zoom in 2014.

In 2024, he published an essay titled “The Death of Deloitte,” arguing that AI would fundamentally reshape professional services.

The piece helped popularize the concept of AI-native services companies — startups that deliver business outcomes directly rather than selling software licenses.

Today, Saper focuses on what he describes as three major frontiers of enterprise AI: AI-native services, agentic software and physical-world AI.

His portfolio reflects that thesis. Hanover Park represents one of Saper’s flagship bets on AI-native services, while Rowspace is building AI infrastructure for large asset managers. He has also backed Bedrock Robotics, focused on autonomous construction technology, and partnered with OpenAI on enterprise AI deployment initiatives.

Lior Simon

General Partner, Cyberstarts

Key deals: Cyera, Oasis, Vega, Gambit, Wiz

Lior Simon has spent more than a decade investing in cybersecurity companies, developing a reputation for backing founders who are tackling some of the industry’s most complex infrastructure and security challenges.

A General Partner at Cyberstarts, Simon currently serves on the boards of Cyera, Oasis and Zafran while also working with Wiz, Island and Fireblocks.

Her investment career began at Sequoia before she became Head of Israel for Arbor Ventures. Growing up between the United States and Israel, Simon credits her adaptability and resilience with helping shape her investing philosophy and close founder relationships.

Simon’s portfolio reflects several of cybersecurity’s fastest-growing companies. Cyera has emerged as a leader in data and AI security, while Oasis is building infrastructure for managing and securing AI agents at enterprise scale. She also backed Wiz, which was acquired by Google for $32 billion in one of the largest cybersecurity exits in history.