According to The Wall Street Journal, Silicon Valley’s legendary venture capital firm Benchmark Capital has officially closed two new funds totaling $2 billion, breaking its conservative tradition that had held for over twenty years. Historically, Benchmark kept each fund size under approximately $425 million, adhering to a classic strategy of investing exclusively in young startups and typically holding about 20 percent equity per deal. This landscape has now been completely transformed: the $750 million early-stage fund will enhance the firm's flexibility in an environment where valuations have skyrocketed, while the $1.25 billion dedicated fund focuses on late-stage investments, expected to complete five to six large injections into both existing portfolio companies and new targets. Behind this expansion lies Benchmark’s profound lesson from missing out on the AI wave. Due to limited capital scale, Benchmark failed to participate in funding rounds for capital-intensive model firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI. Its previous lead investment in the AI agent platform Manus— which reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue within eight months and was poised to replicate past successes — also hit a deadlock after Chinese regulators blocked Meta’s acquisition deal citing violations of export control laws, leaving Benchmark’s equity stake stranded. Meanwhile, Benchmark’s core team has undergone significant turnover. Miles Grimshaw, Sarah Tavel, and Victor Lazarte departed successively. The firm recruited Everett Randle from Kleiner Perkins and brought in Jack Altman, brother of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Previously, Benchmark participated in Cerebras’ pre-IPO round via a special purpose vehicle worth $225 million; since Cerebras went public last month, it generated a return of $3.25 billion for Benchmark, directly catalyzing the creation of this growth fund.