(Top L-R) Vinod Khosla, Navin Chaddha, Shardul Shah, Rahul Mehta (Bottom L-R) Asheem Chandna, Hemant Taneja, Ravi Mhatre, Neil Mehta / Forbes

Seventeen Indian-origin venture capital investors have been named to Forbes' 2026 Midas List, the magazine's annual ranking of the world's top 100 venture capitalists, underscoring the growing influence of the community in global technology investing. 

Leading the Indian-origin contingent was Vinod Khosla, founder and managing director of Khosla Ventures, who claimed the No. 1 position worldwide. Forbes credited Khosla's early backing of OpenAI, noting that he wrote the first institutional check to the company in 2019 when it was still a nonprofit research lab. 

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Khosla had also topped the inaugural Midas List in 2001 and returned to the summit this year on the strength of what Forbes described as another generational investment.

Benchmark Capital's Eric Vishria ranked No. 3 globally, propelled by his investment in AI chipmaker Cerebras. Forbes said Cerebras' May 2026 initial public offering valued the company at $56 billion, making it the largest semiconductor IPO on record and helping elevate Vishria into the top three.

Index Ventures partner Shardul Shah placed No. 10, benefiting from the firm's investment in cloud security company Wiz. Forbes highlighted Google's $32 billion acquisition of Wiz as one of the major liquidity events influencing this year's rankings.

DST Global co-founder Saurabh Gupta ranked No. 15. His notable investment was digital banking company Chime, while fellow Indian-origin investor Ravi Mhatre, founder and managing director of Lightspeed Venture Partners, came in at No. 16 with Anthropic cited as his standout deal. 

General catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja ranked No. 19, with Stripe serving as the key company behind his placement. Forbes noted that Stripe remains one of the world's most valuable private companies and continues to be a major driver of venture returns.

Further down the list, Antonio Gracias, founder, CEO and CIO of Valor Equity Partners, ranked No. 32 due largely to his long-standing involvement with SpaceX. Neil Mehta, founder and managing partner of Greenoaks, was ranked No. 39, with payments giant Stripe listed as his most notable investment.

Ashvin Bachireddy, managing partner at SV Angel, was ranked No. 50, reflecting his backing of OpenAI. Just behind him at No. 51 was Navin Chaddha, managing partner of Mayfield Fund, whose ranking was tied to xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company. Forbes said xAI's combination with SpaceX helped reshape the venture capital landscape this year.

Greylock Partners general partner Asheem Chandna ranked No. 73, supported by cybersecurity company Rubrik. Lightspeed Venture Partners partner Arif Janmohamed came in at No. 75, with travel and expense management platform Navan listed as his notable deal. Battery Ventures general partner Dharmesh Thakker ranked No. 85, driven by his investment in data and AI company Databricks, which Forbes described as a major beneficiary of enterprise AI adoption.

Benchmark Capital general partner Chetan Puttagunta was ranked No. 89, with AI coding startup Cursor identified as his standout investment. Soma Capital partner Aneel Ranadive placed No. 94 for his backing of Deel, while Haystack Ventures partner Semil Shah ranked No. 98 on the strength of his investment in design software company Figma.

Rounding out the Indian-origin representation were DST Global co-founder and managing partner Rahul Mehta at No. 99, recognized for his investment in Robinhood, and Uncorrelated general partner Salil Deshpande at No. 100, whose notable deal was energy and AI infrastructure company Crusoe Energy.

The list, produced with TrueBridge Capital Partners, is marking its 25th year and was heavily shaped by investors' stakes in artificial intelligence leaders OpenAI and Anthropic, aerospace giant SpaceX, payments company Stripe and cybersecurity firm Wiz.

According to Forbes, investors qualify for the Midas List by backing companies that either went public or were acquired for at least $200 million during the past five years, or by investing in private companies that at least doubled in value to $400 million or more. The rankings are based on investment data, public information and Forbes' reporting, with greater weight assigned to realized exits than unrealized gains.

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