Sriram Krishnan spent roughly a year and a half helping write the rules for American artificial intelligence. Now, the former Senior White House Policy Advisor on AI wants to fund the companies operating under those rules.

According to a report by Axios, Krishnan is raising a $500 million venture capital fund that will target growth-stage AI companies connected to US national security.

What Krishnan Is Building

The mandate of the new vehicle is specific: growth-stage companies rather than seed-stage experiments. In other words, startups that have already found traction and now need substantial capital to scale. The distinction carries weight in this niche: national security AI is a field where government demand and large-scale deployments tend to favor companies that have already proven themselves, which is the stage this fund is designed to reach.

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

The fund marks a departure from Krishnan's existing day job. He co-runs Kearny Jackson, an early-stage investment firm whose third fund raised $65 million in 2024. That vehicle is pointed at B2B SaaS, infrastructure, and fintech, and national security AI is not part of its mandate.

The new $500 million target is more than seven times the size of Kearny Jackson's Fund III. The gap illustrates the difference in scale between early-stage B2B investing and growth-stage national security AI, a lane that runs directly alongside the policy agenda Krishnan helped author — one built on the premise that private capital, not federal rules, should carry American AI forward.

From the West Wing to the Cap Table

ishnan's resume reads like a tour of big tech. Before moving into government, he held senior product roles at Microsoft, Meta, Snap, and Twitter.

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, built on the idea that the private sector should drive AI development rather than operate under 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. For anyone tracking AI capital flows, that record is the backdrop for this raise: one of the architects of the federal AI agenda is now moving to deploy private capital along the priorities he helped set.

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.

Open Questions for AI and Defense Investing

That proximity to Washington 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.

Bandwidth is another consideration. 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.

The fund's own mechanics are equally unresolved: its final size, investor base, and deployment pace. Answers there will clarify how large a role private capital is set to play in an area of AI that Krishnan's own policy work left largely to the market.

Source: CryptoBriefing