Khosla Ventures looks to raise $400M seed fund

The firm also filed earlier this year to raise a $1 billion fund

Khosla Ventures, one of the biggest and most well-known venture capital firms, is getting ready to raise a new seed fund, according to documents filed with the Securies and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

The total size of the fund, called Khosla Ventures Seed C, will be $400 million. Listed in the filing are partners Vinod Khosla, Keith Rabois, Samir Kaul, and David Weiden.

Back in June, the firm filed with the SEC to raise a $1 billion fund, called Khosla Ventures V. That amount is in-line with what Khola Ventures typically raises; it raised a $1.05 billion fund in October 2011, called Khosla IV, half of which was set to be invested in clean technology. It also closed two funds in July 2009 which raised $1 billion collectively.

VatorNews has reached out to Khosla Ventures for more details about the new fund, including what types of investments it is looking to make, and how many. The firm was not at liberty to discuss the filing further, however. 

Kholsa is known for its investments in clean tech companies, and several biofuels and biochemical companies in the firm's portfolio have already seen some big exits, including industrial biofuels company Amyris, which raised $84.8 million in its IPO in 2010; Bio-isobutanol producer Gevo, which raised $123.3 million in its IPO in March 2011; and renewable fuels company KiOR, which raised $150 million in its June 2011 IPO.

Some of the firm’s recent investments include participation in the following rounds: $8 millionin MetaMind, an artificial intelligence platform; $70 million in payments startup Stripe; $40 million in wearable device maker and fitness platform provider Misfit; $2 million in Sliced Investing, a startup looking to simplify hedge fund investing; a $35 million Series B funding round in custom t-shirt design company Teespring; a $1.7 million round in CareLuLu, an online marketplace that connects parents with child care and preschool programs; and a $9 million round for Checkr, a service that automates the process of professional background checks.

There have been a slew of venture capital firms raising new funds recently. 

Earlier this month early-growth venture capital firm Formation 8 closed its second fund with a total of $500 million.  In October, Industry Ventures closed a hybrid fund of funds, with a total of $170 million of institutional capital, while Israeli early stage technology-focused venture capital fund Magma Venture Partners raised $150 million for Magma Venture Capital IV. Canaan Partners raised $675 million for its tenth fund, entitled Canaan X and Version One Ventures closed its second fund, Version One Fund II, at $35 million. Venture capital firm True Ventures raised $100 million for its fourth fund in March bringing the total to $350 million.

The biggest raise, though, was Tiger Global, which announced that it raised $2.5 billion in early December.

The document filed by Khosla was first noticed by VentureBeat on Wednesday.

(Image source: events.ei.columbia.edu)