Adit Singh, an early investor in AI chip company Cerebras, has joined the venture capital firm Mayfield as an infrastructure partner. Singh will focus on investments in hardware, infrastructure software, cybersecurity, and physical AI at the 57-year-old firm. He said Mayfield’s track record in semiconductors was a primary draw, citing its portfolio companies Upscale AI and Lumilens.
Singh was a partner at Foundation Capital when he helped source and co-lead the first funding round into Cerebras, which was then a little-known chip startup. By the time Cerebras held its initial public offering in May, Foundation Capital held a roughly 7% stake, making it the third-largest shareholder in the company. Cerebras now trades at a valuation of nearly $50 billion.
Singh describes himself as a chip designer by training and said his ability to trace a workload from the application down to the transistor level is his "secret sauce." He credits his background in electrical engineering with helping him recognize Cerebras’ potential a decade ago. Singh did not remain at Foundation Capital, however, as he co-founded Neotribe Ventures in 2017 and led that firm for four years before joining early-stage firm Cota Capital.
His decision to join Mayfield was influenced by the recent growth in the size of seed infrastructure deals. Smaller funds often get priced out of mega-seed rounds, but Mayfield’s $3 billion in assets under management allows it to write seed checks of up to $20 million. This financial capacity was a key factor in his move.
Mayfield managing partner Navin Chaddha said he had known Singh for 15 years and had sat on three startup boards with him, including Upscale AI and AI startup Velaura AI. Chaddha noted that despite that long relationship, it still took time to persuade Singh to join the firm. He said the two had been talking for a while and that this time the conditions aligned.
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