Adit Singh, Early Investor in Cerebras, Becomes Infrastructure Partner at Mayfield

Adit Singh, who formerly held a partnership at Foundation Capital, was instrumental in sourcing and co-leading the initial funding round for the formerly obscure chip startup, Cerebras.

Following Cerebras’ successful IPO in May, Foundation Capital emerged as the third-largest shareholder, owning about 7% of the now nearly $50 billion-valued company.

Singh has since embarked on a new journey in venture capital: on Thursday, he revealed his new position as an infrastructure partner at the renowned Mayfield.

In his new role at Mayfield, Singh will concentrate on investments in hardware, infrastructure software, cybersecurity, and physical AI. He was especially attracted to the firm due to its robust semiconductor expertise.

“Considering Mayfield’s semiconductor portfolio, it’s arguably the strongest in the market currently,” Singh told TechCrunch, noting Mayfield’s investments in Upscale AI, recently valued at $2 billion, and Lumilens, which just raised $700 million at a valuation of $5.5 billion.

“As a chip designer by training, my distinctive capability lies in evaluating any workload and comprehending its functionality from the application level down to the transistor,” Singh explained.

His electrical engineering background played a key role in recognizing the potential of Cerebras a decade ago. However, Singh departed Foundation and co-founded Neotribe Ventures in 2017. After four years leading that firm, he shifted to early-stage investments at Cota Capital.

Singh’s choice to join Mayfield was significantly swayed by the impressive increase in seed infrastructure deals in recent years. While smaller funds often face challenges competing for large seed investments, Mayfield’s $3 billion assets under management allow it to issue seed checks of up to $20 million.

Navin Chaddha, managing partner at Mayfield, told TechCrunch that despite a 15-year friendship with Singh and collaborating on three startup boards—including Upscale AI and the unicorn Velaura AI—it took some time to persuade him to join the firm.

“Our discussions have spanned a long time, but this time, the stars aligned,” remarked Chaddha.