Sriram Krishnan seeks $500 million for national security AI fund

Sriram Krishnan spent roughly a year and a half helping write the rules for American AI. Now he wants to fund the companies playing by them. The former Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence is raising a $500 million venture capital fund, according to Axios. The fund will target growth-stage AI companies connected to US national security. What Krishnan is building The new fund’s focus is specific: growth-stage companies, not seed-stage experiments. These are startups that have already found traction and need serious capital to scale. The thematic filter is national security. Krishnan is looking for AI businesses whose products intersect with how the US defends itself, protects infrastructure, or competes with rivals. Compare that with his existing day job. Krishnan co-runs Kearny Jackson, an early-stage investment firm whose third fund raised $65 million in 2024. That fund points at B2B SaaS, infrastructure, and fintech. National security AI is not part of the mandate. The new $500 million target is more than seven times the size of Kearny Jackson’s Fund III. From the West Wing to the cap table Krishnan’s resume reads like a tour of big tech. He held senior pr...