Mayfield is one of Silicon Valley's oldest venture capital firms, founded in 1969 by Tommy Davis and others in Menlo Park, California. Over more than five decades it has backed technology companies from the earliest stages, building a track record that spans semiconductors, enterprise software, consumer internet, and – more recently – frontier technology including blockchain infrastructure. The firm operates with a stated "people-first" investment philosophy, prioritising founders over sectors and entering at Seed through Series B.
Mayfield manages assets across multiple sequential funds. While the firm does not publicly disclose a single consolidated AUM figure, successive funds have typically closed in the $500 million – $750 million range. Cumulative capital deployed since founding exceeds several billion dollars. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California and invests almost exclusively in US-based companies, though some portfolio companies operate globally.
Notable investments
Mayfield's most prominent exits span traditional technology rather than crypto. Landmark portfolio names include:
- Lyft – early backing of the US ride-share company ahead of its 2019 IPO
- Poshmark – social commerce platform, IPO 2021, acquired by Naver
- HashiCorp – infrastructure automation software, IPO 2021
- Marketo – marketing automation, acquired by Adobe for $4.75 billion in 2018
- Gigamon – network visibility, IPO and later taken private by Elliott
- Compaq and Amgen – historical investments from the firm's early decades
Within the digital assets and blockchain space, Mayfield's tracked portfolio is smaller – approximately 10 investments with around 3 led rounds. Public information about specific individual crypto deal names, sizes, and vintages from Mayfield is limited. The firm has not positioned itself publicly as a dedicated Web3 fund, so blockchain exposure appears opportunistic and early-stage rather than thesis-driven.
Team
Navin Chaddha is Managing Director and has led the firm since 1997. He joined as an entrepreneur-turned-investor after co-founding VXtreme, later acquired by Microsoft. Chaddha is the most public face of Mayfield's current strategy and has led investments in Lyft and HashiCorp among others.
Other known partners include Ursheet Parikh (cloud infrastructure, enterprise AI), Robin Vasan (enterprise software), and Tim Chang (consumer and digital health). The team has backgrounds spanning engineering, operating roles, and prior VC tenures. A full current partner list is available on the Mayfield team page.
Recent activity
In 2024 and into 2025, Mayfield continued its focus on AI-native enterprise companies, backing startups building on large language models and developer infrastructure. The firm has publicly discussed the intersection of AI and security as a priority area. Specific new crypto or token-based investments from this period have not been prominently announced through press releases or regulatory filings reviewed publicly.
Mayfield closed Mayfield Fund XVI in recent years; details on fund size for the most recent vehicle were not fully disclosed at the time of writing. For verified fund filings, the SEC's EDGAR database holds Form D filings for individual Mayfield vehicles.
As a generalist technology fund with over 55 years of operation, Mayfield brings institutional credibility and a deep operator network to any investment. Its crypto exposure remains a minor component of total activity. Founders seeking capital from Mayfield should expect focus on product fundamentals and team depth rather than token economics or DeFi-specific metrics. The firm's long history also means it has navigated multiple full market cycles – a factor relevant for any blockchain company weighing long-term partnership stability.