Khosla Ventures and Social Capital veteran, Sandhya Venkatachalam, launches new Seed-stage firm to invest in category-defining AI companies that target the “capacity crunch”
SAN FRANCISCO, March 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Axiom Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm, today announced the close of its oversubscribed $52M inaugural fund, dedicated to backing “AI for the Real World” – practical applications of AI that unlock real value at global scale.
Founded by former Khosla Ventures and Social Capital partner Sandhya Venkatachalam, Axiom Partners has secured commitments from eight major institutional investors, as well as leading AI executives from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Nvidia and AMD.
The firm invests in startups that use AI to democratize access to skills and resources that have long been out of reach for most of the world — not because the solutions don’t exist, but because there aren’t enough skilled people to deliver them at scale. This goes well beyond automating existing software, and addresses the global “capacity crunch,” which spans both the digital and physical world.
“We built Axiom on a simple but powerful belief: everyone deserves access to the best expertise and resources — whether in healthcare, education, financial advice, or technology. Every child should learn from the best teachers. Every patient should receive care from the most knowledgeable doctors. Every person should have access to the financial advice that was once reserved for the wealthy. AI makes this possible,” said Venkatachalam. “Axiom backs founders that use AI to improve the quality of life of 8 billion people globally, not just the elite 80 million. We call this “AI for the Real World.”
“Sandhya was lean-in on AI well before it was popular,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. “She finds exceptional, often under-the-radar, founders building potentially disruptive businesses before they are obvious. I look forward to continuing to partner with her.”
Venkatachalam brings deep expertise in AI, hardware and software from her former operating and investing career. Notably, she was one of the earliest lead investors in Groq, the company that created the market for AI Inference chips, and which recently completed a $20B licensing and talent-acquisition deal with Nvidia. She has also held product leadership roles at Andiamo Systems and Skype, companies acquired by Cisco and Microsoft for a combined $10 billion.
“Sandhya has been pivotal in taking our company from a good idea to a category leader.” said Krish Ramineni, CEO of AI Unicorn, Fireflies.ai. “Her ongoing support, insights and mentorship have helped us stay focused, aim bigger, and ultimately reach breakout velocity, in the ever-changing, fast moving AI space.”
