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FINANCE

Venture Capital AI Visibility Index 2026

Venture Capital Index 2.0: a16z and Sequoia Lead

Published June 28, 2026 · Updated November 9, 2026

Andreessen Horowitz: 225/288 (78.1%; 95% interval 73.0–82.5%). Sequoia Capital: 198/288 (68.8%; 95% interval 63.2–73.8%). Their 95% intervals overlap; neither can be called the sole leader.

288

AI answers analyzed across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity

78.1%

of answers named Andreessen Horowitz, the most-named (225 of 288)

34

tracked firms named at least once (of 34)

100%

of Google searches showed an AI Overview (61 of 61)

Version 2. This version replaces the first version of this study, first published June 28, 2026. It uses measured counts, so the two versions are not comparable. Version 2 asks 24 questions three times each on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity (288 answers) and adds Google AI Overviews. Every rate comes with its count and a 95% interval.

What the data shows

01

Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital

Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital lead this measured set. Andreessen Horowitz: 225/288 (78.1%; 95% interval 73.0–82.5%). Sequoia Capital: 198/288 (68.8%; 95% interval 63.2–73.8%). Their 95% intervals overlap; neither can be called the sole leader.
02

54/288 (18.8%)

Sequoia Capital was the first firm named in 54 of 288 answers, more than any other tracked firm. Its average first position was 3. Andreessen Horowitz was named first in 47 of 288.
03

36/72 (50%)

Claude named Khosla Ventures in 36 of 72 answers. The other engines named it in 10 to 22 of 72.
04

62/72 (86.1%)

Claude named Sequoia Capital in 62 of 72 answers. The other engines named it in 42 to 49 of 72.
05

18/288 (6.3%)

Y Combinator's own domains were cited in 18 of 288 grounded answers, more than any other tracked firm. Andreessen Horowitz followed at 16 of 288. 18 of 34 tracked firms had 0 of 288.
06

61/61 (100%)

Google AI Overviews appeared on 61 of 61 searches (CI 94.1–100%).
07

34/61 (55.7%)

Andreessen Horowitz was the firm named most often in AI Overviews, at 34 of 61, followed by Sequoia Capital at 34 of 61 (55.7%). In the four-engine set, Andreessen Horowitz was named in 225 of 288 answers (78.1%).
08

91/288 (31.6%)

rho.co was cited in 91 of 288 grounded four-engine answers, with 133 of 2,424 citations (5.5%). openvc.app came second with 117 citations in 104 answers (36.1%).

Appearance rate across 288 four-engine answers. The bar is the 95% confidence interval; overlapping bars cannot be told apart at this sample size.

Which brands AI engines name

Andreessen Horowitz
78.1%
Sequoia Capital
68.8%
Accel
47.6%
Lightspeed Venture Partners
44.1%
Bessemer Venture Partners
38.5%
General Catalyst
33.0%
Y Combinator
32.3%
Khosla Ventures
29.5%
Founders Fund
26.7%
Insight Partners
24.7%
Index Ventures
22.9%
Benchmark
19.8%
First Round Capital
18.8%
NEA
17.4%
Tiger Global
14.2%
#NameNamed inAppearance rate95% interval
1Andreessen Horowitz225/28878.1%73.0–82.5%
2Sequoia Capital198/28868.8%63.2–73.8%
3Accel137/28847.6%41.9–53.3%
4Lightspeed Venture Partners127/28844.1%38.5–49.9%
5Bessemer Venture Partners111/28838.5%33.1–44.3%
6General Catalyst95/28833.0%27.8–38.6%
7Y Combinator93/28832.3%27.2–37.9%
8Khosla Ventures85/28829.5%24.5–35.0%
9Founders Fund77/28826.7%22.0–32.1%
10Insight Partners71/28824.7%20.0–29.9%
11Index Ventures66/28822.9%18.4–28.1%
12Benchmark57/28819.8%15.6–24.8%
13First Round Capital54/28818.8%14.7–23.7%
14NEA50/28817.4%13.4–22.2%
15Tiger Global41/28814.2%10.7–18.7%

The full list

Own-domain citation is the share of 288 grounded answers that cited the tracked name's own domains (subdomains included). Citation share is of all 2,424 citations.

#BrandNamed inAppearance rate95% intervalFirst mentionOwn-domain citationCitation share
1Andreessen Horowitz225/28878.1%73–82.5%2.85.6% (16/288)0.9%
2Sequoia Capital198/28868.8%63.2–73.8%31.4% (4/288)0.2%
3Accel137/28847.6%41.9–53.3%4.60.7% (2/288)0.1%
4Lightspeed Venture Partners127/28844.1%38.5–49.9%5.90% (0/288)0%
5Bessemer Venture Partners111/28838.5%33.1–44.3%5.90.7% (2/288)0.1%
6General Catalyst95/28833%27.8–38.6%5.90.3% (1/288)0%
7Y Combinator93/28832.3%27.2–37.9%4.46.3% (18/288)1%
8Khosla Ventures85/28829.5%24.5–35%6.40% (0/288)0%
9Founders Fund77/28826.7%22–32.1%5.60% (0/288)0%
10Insight Partners71/28824.7%20–29.9%5.30% (0/288)0%
11Index Ventures66/28822.9%18.4–28.1%7.41% (3/288)0.1%
12Benchmark57/28819.8%15.6–24.8%5.40% (0/288)0%
13First Round Capital54/28818.8%14.7–23.7%4.60% (0/288)0%
14NEA50/28817.4%13.4–22.2%70.3% (1/288)0%
15Tiger Global41/28814.2%10.7–18.7%6.30% (0/288)0%
16Kleiner Perkins39/28813.5%10.1–18%7.30% (0/288)0%
17Lux Capital38/28813.2%9.8–17.6%4.70.3% (1/288)0%
18Battery Ventures37/28812.8%9.5–17.2%7.20.3% (1/288)0%
19Greylock36/28812.5%9.2–16.8%8.30.3% (1/288)0%
20Techstars36/28812.5%9.2–16.8%30.3% (1/288)0%
21Thrive Capital36/28812.5%9.2–16.8%7.10% (0/288)0%
22Coatue28/2889.7%6.8–13.7%7.50% (0/288)0%
23Ribbit Capital24/2888.3%5.7–12.1%1.30% (0/288)0%
24Breakthrough Energy Ventures23/2888%5.4–11.7%20.3% (1/288)0%
25Lowercarbon Capital21/2887.3%4.8–10.9%1.60% (0/288)0%
26Union Square Ventures20/2886.9%4.5–10.5%7.40% (0/288)0%
27ARCH Venture Partners18/2886.3%4–9.7%2.40.7% (2/288)0.1%
28ICONIQ17/2885.9%3.7–9.2%5.80% (0/288)0%

The full list (continued)

#BrandNamed inAppearance rate95% intervalFirst mentionOwn-domain citationCitation share
298VC15/2885.2%3.2–8.4%4.80% (0/288)0%
30Flagship Pioneering14/2884.9%2.9–8%2.61% (3/288)0.1%
31Pantera Capital12/2884.2%2.4–7.1%30.7% (2/288)0.1%
32Paradigm12/2884.2%2.4–7.1%20% (0/288)0%
33SV Angel11/2883.8%2.1–6.7%5.50% (0/288)0%
34GV10/2883.5%1.9–6.3%4.10% (0/288)0%

Separate table: people from the earlier edition (not ranked)

Names the earlier edition tracked, counted in the same 288 answers but not ranked against the main list. Listed alphabetically; no own-domain figure.

NameNamed answersRate95% intervalNamed first
Ben Horowitz11/2883.8%2.1–6.7%0
Bill Gurley0/2880.0%0.0–1.3%0
Marc Andreessen11/2883.8%2.1–6.7%10
Michael Moritz0/2880.0%0.0–1.3%0
Paul Graham0/2880.0%0.0–1.3%0
Peter Thiel8/2882.8%1.4–5.4%6
Reid Hoffman0/2880.0%0.0–1.3%0
Roelof Botha3/2881.0%0.4–3.0%1
Sam Altman0/2880.0%0.0–1.3%0
Vinod Khosla7/2882.4%1.2–4.9%3

The top eight, side by side

#NameAppearance rateAnswers and intervalOther measures
1Andreessen Horowitz78.1%225/288 answers · 95% CI 73–82.5%first-mention position: 2.8; owned-domain citation (16/288): 5.6%; citation share: 0.9%
2Sequoia Capital68.8%198/288 answers · 95% CI 63.2–73.8%first-mention position: 3; owned-domain citation (4/288): 1.4%; citation share: 0.2%
3Accel47.6%137/288 answers · 95% CI 41.9–53.3%first-mention position: 4.6; owned-domain citation (2/288): 0.7%; citation share: 0.1%
4Lightspeed Venture Partners44.1%127/288 answers · 95% CI 38.5–49.9%first-mention position: 5.9; owned-domain citation (0/288): 0%; citation share: 0%
5Bessemer Venture Partners38.5%111/288 answers · 95% CI 33.1–44.3%first-mention position: 5.9; owned-domain citation (2/288): 0.7%; citation share: 0.1%
6General Catalyst33.0%95/288 answers · 95% CI 27.8–38.6%first-mention position: 5.9; owned-domain citation (1/288): 0.3%; citation share: 0%
7Y Combinator32.3%93/288 answers · 95% CI 27.2–37.9%first-mention position: 4.4; owned-domain citation (18/288): 6.3%; citation share: 1%
8Khosla Ventures29.5%85/288 answers · 95% CI 24.5–35%first-mention position: 6.4; owned-domain citation (0/288): 0%; citation share: 0%

Claude named Khosla Ventures in 36 of 72 answers. The other engines named it in 10 to 22 of 72. Claude named Sequoia Capital in 62 of 72 answers. The other engines named it in 42 to 49 of 72.

ChatGPT

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Same questions, different answers

Andreessen Horowitz
80.6%
Sequoia Capital
68.1%
Accel
43.1%
Lightspeed Venture Partners
40.3%
Bessemer Venture Partners
40.3%
Index Ventures
34.7%

Claude

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Andreessen Horowitz
86.1%
Sequoia Capital
86.1%
Accel
55.6%
Lightspeed Venture Partners
54.2%
General Catalyst
50.0%
Khosla Ventures
50.0%

Gemini

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Andreessen Horowitz
73.6%
Sequoia Capital
62.5%
Bessemer Venture Partners
47.2%
Accel
41.7%
Lightspeed Venture Partners
36.1%
Y Combinator
36.1%

Perplexity

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Andreessen Horowitz
72.2%
Sequoia Capital
58.3%
Accel
50.0%
Lightspeed Venture Partners
45.8%
General Catalyst
44.4%
Y Combinator
27.8%

Google AI Overviews were captured through 61 U.S. desktop searches and scored only where an overview appeared, so five-engine figures use 288 + 61 = 349 answers.

The fifth engine

100%

Trigger rate: 61 of 61 searches

Google AI Overviews appeared on 61 of 61 searches (100%, CI 94.1–100%). The other 0 searches showed no overview. Within the 61 overviews, Andreessen Horowitz was named in 34 (55.7%), Sequoia Capital was named in 34 (55.7%), Lightspeed Venture Partners was named in 25 (41%), Accel was named in 22 (36.1%). openvc.app was the most-cited source, with 14 citations and an appearance in 14 of 61 overviews.

Five-engine rankNameFive-engine rateFour-engine rank
1Andreessen Horowitz74.2%1
2Sequoia Capital66.5%2
3Accel45.6%3
4Lightspeed Venture Partners43.6%4
5Bessemer Venture Partners36.4%5
6General Catalyst33.2%6
7Y Combinator32.7%7
8Khosla Ventures30.7%8
9Founders Fund27.5%9
10Index Ventures22.9%11

Who each question surfaces first

Six questions from the set. Each tile uses that question's own four-engine answers as the denominator.

QuestionLeaderNextAI Overview
Q01 · 12 answersAndreessen Horowitz 100.0%Sequoia Capital 100.0%; Accel 100.0%AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches
Q02 · 12 answersAndreessen Horowitz 100.0%Sequoia Capital 100.0%; Khosla Ventures 100.0%AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches
Q03 · 12 answersY Combinator 100.0%First Round Capital 100.0%; Andreessen Horowitz 100.0%AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches
Q04 · 12 answersBessemer Venture Partners 100.0%Accel 100.0%; Sequoia Capital 100.0%AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches
Q05 · 12 answersInsight Partners 100.0%Sequoia Capital 91.7%; Tiger Global 83.3%AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches
Q06 · 12 answersAndreessen Horowitz 100.0%Paradigm 100.0%; Pantera Capital 100.0%AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches

The four engines produced 2,424 citations in total. rho.co was cited most often, with 133 citations (5.5%) across 91 answers. Next came openvc.app (117), en.wikipedia.org (76), affinity.co (60), waveup.com (59), roundfunded.com (58).

Four AI engines · share of 288 grounded answers

Most-cited domains

openvc.app
36.1%
rho.co
31.6%
affinity.co
20.8%
waveup.com
20.5%
roundfunded.com
19.1%
en.wikipedia.org
16.7%
crv.com
16.0%
ellty.com
11.8%
failory.com
11.8%
everythingstartups.com
11.8%

Google AI Overviews · share of 61 overviews

openvc.app
23.0%
linkedin.com
19.7%
dealroom.co
8.2%
quora.com
8.2%
vcsheet.com
8.2%
youtube.com
6.6%
privateequitylist.com
6.6%
time.com
6.6%
waveup.com
6.6%
affinity.co
4.9%

Citation share by source type

Share of all citations by the type of site cited.

Source typeFour AI engines (of 2,424 citations)Google AI Overviews (of 178 citations)
Other / unclassified869 (35.8%)60 (33.7%)
Company / brand sites750 (30.9%)34 (19.1%)
Directories / rankings326 (13.4%)25 (14%)
Community / social108 (4.5%)37 (20.8%)
Reference95 (3.9%)3 (1.7%)
General news / business press83 (3.4%)9 (5.1%)
Research / data providers75 (3.1%)6 (3.4%)
Trade / specialist press74 (3.1%)3 (1.7%)
Review / comparison publishers21 (0.9%)0 (0%)
Institutions / trade bodies12 (0.5%)1 (0.6%)
Official / government11 (0.5%)0 (0%)

How can brands improve their AI visibility?

These steps follow from the measured results above. They describe what the engines cited in this study and are not a guarantee of results.

StepWhat this study measured
Put your facts on your own domain.Y Combinator's own domains were cited in 6.3% of grounded answers, Andreessen Horowitz's in 5.6% and Sequoia Capital's in 1.4%.
Keep your facts accurate on the sites engines cite.The most-cited sites other than the tracked names' own were openvc.app (in 36.1% of grounded answers), rho.co (31.6%), affinity.co (20.8%), waveup.com (20.5%) and roundfunded.com (19.1%). Directories and rankings supplied 13.4% of citations and community and social 4.5%.
Check each engine separately.Claude named General Catalyst in 50.0% of answers against 12.5% on ChatGPT. Claude named Khosla Ventures in 50.0% of answers against 13.9% on ChatGPT.
Watch names outside the tracked list.Menlo Ventures (25 answers), Precursor Ventures (18 answers), General Atlantic (18 answers), Prelude Ventures (18 answers), QED Investors (18 answers) were named often but were not tracked.
Re-run the same questions every month.Compare counts and intervals, not ranks. The 24 questions are in the appendix.

What AI answers

Which firms lead these AI answers?

Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital lead this measured set. Andreessen Horowitz: 225/288 (78.1%; 95% interval 73.0–82.5%). Sequoia Capital: 198/288 (68.8%; 95% interval 63.2–73.8%). Their 95% intervals overlap; neither can be called the sole leader.

Which firm is named first most often?

Sequoia Capital was the first firm named in 54 of 288 answers, with an average first position of 3.

How often do Google AI Overviews appear for these questions?

An overview appeared on 61 of 61 searches (100%, CI 94.1–100%). Within those 61 overviews, Andreessen Horowitz was named most often, in 34 (55.7%).

Which sources do the engines cite?

Across 2,424 four-engine citations, rho.co was cited most (133 citations, in 91 of 288 grounded answers), followed by openvc.app (117 citations).

Do the four engines agree?

Only in part. Claude named Khosla Ventures in 36 of 72 answers, against 10 to 22 of 72 on the other engines. Claude named Sequoia Capital in 62 of 72 answers, against 42 to 49 of 72 on the other engines.

How this study was measured

24 questions × 3 runs each × 4 AI engines = 288 answers + 61 Google searches · 61 AI Overviews

24 questions asked three times on each of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, measured November 3, 2026. United States, English; Google retrieval uses desktop results. Models: gpt-5-mini, claude-sonnet-5-5, gemini-3.6-flash only, sonar-pro. Google AI Overviews come from DataForSEO, not inferred chat answers. Appearance counts returned text, including ungrounded answers; citation rates use grounded answers. Longer overlapping names suppress shorter ones; First mention is the earliest eligible name order. Own-domain rates include declared domains and subdomains; shared parent scopes may count for multiple names and cannot be summed as unique citations.

EngineModel IDs calledAskedReturnedGrounded
ChatGPTgpt-5-mini727272
Claudeclaude-sonnet-5-5727272
Geminigemini-3.6-flash727272
Perplexitysonar-pro727272
Google AI OverviewsDataForSEO Google SERP (live, advanced)6161 shown61

Own-domain citations count a domain plus all its subdomains, with the same rule in every table.

Definitions

  • Appearance rate: answers naming the tracked name ÷ answers returned, with Wilson 95% intervals.
  • First mention: average order in which the tracked name first appears (1 = first).
  • Own-domain citation: grounded answers citing the tracked name's domains ÷ grounded answers.
  • Citation share: citations to the tracked name's domains ÷ all citations.

Limits

  • Only 34 tracked firms are ranked; results are not an exhaustive market ranking.
  • Only the tracked firms were scored. Untracked names that appeared often were not scored, including Menlo Ventures (25 answers), Precursor Ventures (18 answers), General Atlantic (18 answers), Prelude Ventures (18 answers), QED Investors (18 answers).
  • 349 of 360 planned results were returned. 11 AI Overview lookups were excluded after at most three total attempts.
  • 61 successful Google searches: 61 overviews shown; 0 without an overview. Failures are excluded, not scored as zero.
  • All returned chat answers had search sources.
  • Questions 10 and 12 name Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, so each of those counts includes up to 12 answers to a question that names it.
  • Removing 2 Core questions naming tracked subjects leaves 264 eligible answers. The top two are Andreessen Horowitz (204/264) and Sequoia Capital (177/264); their order does not change.
  • Unverified own domains are not available, never zero or guessed. Source types use Company / brand sites only for verified official organisations; other unresolved sites are Other / unclassified.
  • Wilson 95% intervals are descriptive; overlapping leading intervals do not establish a sole leader. Measurements do not endorse medical, legal, financial or product claims.
  • Firms from the earlier edition plus specialists the questions cover (crypto, biotech, climate, defense, accelerators). People named in the earlier edition (partners and founders) are not ranked; only firms are. No firm status changes requiring a note were found in this check. Names the earlier edition tracked (people) are counted in a separate table that is not ranked against the main list; the main ranking and title stay on the main list. They have no own-domain figure.
  • Google Shopping links and unresolved google.com/goto redirect links are not counted as cited sources; original URLs remain in the evidence.
  • Answers were collected through each engine's API using the model IDs listed in the methodology. The consumer ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity apps can answer differently.

The 24 questions

Questions marked "Core question" are the original study questions, asked word for word. The others are added neutral questions.

#QuestionGroupSource
01What are the best venture capital firms in the US?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
02Which VC firms are best for AI startups?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
03Who are the top seed investors for early-stage startups?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
04Which venture firms lead Series A rounds for SaaS companies?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
05What are the best growth-stage venture capital firms?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
06Which VC firms invest in crypto and web3 startups?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
07Which venture firms focus on biotech and life sciences?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
08Which VC firms invest in climate tech?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
09Which venture capital firms invest in defense technology?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
10Should I apply to an accelerator like Y Combinator or raise from a VC?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
11Which venture capital firms are most founder-friendly?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
12Sequoia vs Andreessen Horowitz: how do they differ?Venture Capital Index 2.0Core question
13What are the most prestigious venture capital firms?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
14Which venture firms have the best track record of early investments?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
15Which venture capital firms invest in fintech startups?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
16Who are the leading pre-seed investors in the US?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
17What are the best startup accelerators in the US?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
18Which venture firms invest most in generative AI companies?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
19Which firms lead late-stage funding rounds for tech companies?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
20Which VC firms are best for B2B software startups?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
21Which venture firms back healthcare and medical device startups?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
22Which venture firms invest in energy and climate startups at seed stage?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
23Which venture capital firms invest in space and aerospace startups?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question
24Which venture capital firms invest in consumer fintech apps?Venture Capital Index 2.0Added question

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