Sriram Krishnan seeks $500 million for national security AI fund

Sriram Krishnan spent roughly a year and a half helping write the rules for American AI. Now he wants to fund the companies playing by them.

The former Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence is raising a $500 million venture capital fund, according to Axios. The fund will target growth-stage AI companies connected to US national security.

What Krishnan is building

The new fund’s focus is specific: growth-stage companies, not seed-stage experiments. These are startups that have already found traction and need serious capital to scale.

The thematic filter is national security. Krishnan is looking for AI businesses whose products intersect with how the US defends itself, protects infrastructure, or competes with rivals.

Compare that with his existing day job. Krishnan co-runs Kearny Jackson, an early-stage investment firm whose third fund raised $65 million in 2024.

That fund points at B2B SaaS, infrastructure, and fintech. National security AI is not part of the mandate.

The new $500 million target is more than seven times the size of Kearny Jackson’s Fund III.

From the West Wing to the cap table

Krishnan’s resume reads like a tour of big tech. He held senior product roles at Microsoft, Meta, Snap, and Twitter before moving into government.

He served as the Senior White House Policy Advisor on AI under the Trump administration from January 2025 until June 30, 2026. In July 2025, he co-authored the American AI Action Plan.

His policy approach leaned toward a light regulatory touch. The idea was to let the private sector drive AI development rather than wrap it in heavy federal rules.

Competition with China framed much of that thinking. Krishnan pushed for US leadership in AI technology and diplomacy, and for a regulatory environment designed to keep American companies ahead.

He also backed the multiyear $500 billion Stargate project, an initiative aimed at strengthening national security through AI advancements.

In September 2026, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic approached him to lead an industry self-regulatory group called the Frontier AI Standards Agency.

What this means for AI and defense investing

That same proximity raises questions worth watching. A former senior policy adviser raising capital for companies tied to government priorities will invite scrutiny over the revolving door between public service and private investing.

There is also the question of bandwidth. Krishnan already co-runs Kearny Jackson, has been courted to lead the Frontier AI Standards Agency, and now plans to manage a $500 million growth fund.

If Krishnan were to lead a self-regulatory group backed by Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic while also investing in AI companies, how he separates those roles would matter to everyone involved.