Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins raises US$1.8 billion via two new funds

:Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins said on Tuesday it had raised US$1.8 billion through two new funds, as it aims to expand into sectors such as fintech and consumer after a record year for venture funding deals.

The firm raised US$800 million and US$1 billion for funds named KP20 and Select2, to invest in early stage startups across sectors. The company is also looking to tap into more cryptocurrency investments.

Over the past five decades, the venture capital giant has invested in some of the biggest technology companies, including Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Twitter Inc and Uber Technologies Inc

The ongoing consumer shift towards digitization will continue, driving up demand for tools offered by technology companies, said Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner Perkins.

Kleiner Perkins’ fundraise follows that of Silicon Valley-based venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, which raised a massive US$9 billion through three new funds last week.

A total of 38,644 venture capital deals were made globally last year, totaling US$671 billion in volumes, higher than any other year on record, according to data from PitchBook.

Kleiner Perkins said it had raised 20 early-stage venture funds since it was founded in 1972. ​

A string of its portfolio companies listed on public exchanges in New York last year, including language learning app Duolingo Inc and online education platform Coursera Inc, fetched a valuation of more than US$5 billion each.

(Reporting by Sohini Podder and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)