Anthropic, Cursor Backer Accel Raises $5 Billion for Big AI Bets

Accel, the venture capital firm that’s backed artificial intelligence companies including Anthropic, Cursor and Perplexity, has raised $5 billion in new funds to keep up its big bets in the age of increasingly valuable artificial intelligence startups.

The firm will dedicate $4 billion to its fifth Leaders fund, focused on writing large checks to late-stage startups around the world, Accel plans to announce Wednesday.

The firm also raised $650 million for a so-called sidecar fund, which gives limited partners extra exposure to Accel’s biggest investments by allowing it to selectively increase the size of certain bets, especially for investments in its existing portfolio, Accel partner Matt Weigand ...