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Bay Area-based , a data-driven venture firm, has raised $1 billion for its fifth and largest fund, which it will invest in applied AI companies.

We spoke with founder on the firm’s investment thesis, 12 years on from its founding. “It’s a fantastic validation that we have enough proof points in the portfolio and enough scale with companies that we’ve gotten into very early, that are quite large at this point,” he said.

The new funds bring SignalFire鈥檚 assets under management to $3 billion. The firm鈥檚 prior fund, announced in February 2023, was slightly smaller at $900 million.

New limited partners investors include large U.S. public pension funds, an Asian sovereign wealth fund, a major global bank, and a large insurer. Existing LPs include endowment, foundations, family offices and fund of funds.

Data driven

SignalFire is built on its machine-learning platform, Beacon AI. It鈥檚 鈥渢he fabric that stitches the entire firm together,鈥� Farmer said. 鈥淭here are five things that you do in venture, and that’s sourcing, picking, winning, adding value and portfolio construction.鈥�

Beacon AI scans 80 million entities and 650 million people to detect anomalies on traction, to benchmark companies, and to assist with portfolio success 鈥� as a talent recruiting platform and a platform for lead generation.

The firm鈥檚 latest fund will be invested over the course of 2.5 years. SignalFire plans to make around 100 investments at pre-seed with a commitment of $100,000 to $1 million and 60 investments at seed for $1 million to $5 million.

In its early-stage fund, the firm will make investment at Series A and B from $5 million to $30 million, mostly in companies in which it invested at seed.

The firm鈥檚 Executive In Residence, or XIR, program, which pairs experienced executives with promising companies new to the portfolio, with a $2 million to $10 million run rate, will invest between $15 million and $30 million. Across its early fund and XIR program the firm plans to make around 30 investments.

XIR investments include data monitoring company and medical coding platform , which spun out of .

Previous applied AI investments the firm has made include: , which offers legal tech for personal injury practices; accounts payable startup ; , provider of continuous penetration testing in cybersecurity; and for therapist scheduling.

The firm is also investing in consumer-focused companies such as for household budgeting and money management, and , a kind of for digital goods.

The firm鈥檚 largest exit to date is , which was acquired by in 2021 for nearly $1.3 billion.

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