The Most Powerful Venture Capital Firms Right Now

It’s said that if you want to make something happen all you need is a dollar and a dream. Nowhere is that maxim truer than in the tech industry. For those looking to build the next great Internet company, all you really need is an idea and a computer. If you want to take that idea to the next level, however, you’re going to need a bit more than a Washington—you’re going to need a couple million. That’s where venture capitalists come in. Outside of getting a good return on their investment, venture capitalists are in the business of making things happen. Some specialize in working with new startups, helping them grow into successful companies, while others are content just opening their wallets. Nearly every tech company that you know of has benefited from the assistance of a venture capitalist firm: Apple, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, eBay, Amazon, Spotify, and so on. We looked through the marketplace and picked the 10 venture capital firms we think are at the top of the mountain. Read on to see who made the cut.

Year Founded: 2006
Founded By: Aydin Senkut
Notable Investments: Shopify, Soundhound, Weebly

Felicis Ventures hasn't been around very long, but in the short time it's been funding startups, industry-leading companies have snatched nearly half of them up. Not bad for a firm with only $100 million in assets. So why you may not be familiar with the companies Felicis works with, just know your favorite companies are watching Aydin Senkut's moves very closely.

Year Founded: 1991
Founded By:
Notable Investments: Perceptive Pixel, Gaikai, DynamicOps

The investment arm of the world's largest computer chip maker has made invested nearly $11 billion in over 1,200 companies around the world. Out of those, 201 have gone public, while over 317 have been acquired. Not bad. A great majority of the companies in Intel Capital's portfolio will never be known by the average consumer only because they make technology that powers technology. Intel Capital also invests in companies that it thinks will help further its parent company's vision. For example, in 2011, the company put aside a $300 million fund to invest in companies working on technologies that will go along with Intel's current love: Ultrabooks.

Year Founded: 1978
Founded By: Richard C. Kramlich, Chuck Newhall, Frank Bonsal
Notable Investments: WebMD, Groupon, TiVo

With $11 billion in assets, New Enterprise Associates is one of the largest VC firms in the world. Out of the nearly 650 companies it has invested in, more than 170 have gone public, and nearly 300 of them have been sold. To put it bluntly, NEA puts numbers on the board. And though it prefers to invest in products that serve the world's leading businesses, it has dabbled in some consumer-facing companies like Gilt Groupe, Macromedia, and WebMD.

Year Founded: 1965
Founded By: Bill Elfers, Dan Gregory
Notable Investments: Pandora, Facebook, Tumblr

The oldest VC firm on this list has stayed in the game by constantly innovating. Sure, it has helped fund some of the biggest Internet companies of the past decade, and 150 of their companies have gone public. But during the first big Internet tech boom, it helped figure out how to monetize websites by creating the current model of online ad revenue.

Year Founded: 2005
Founded By: Peter Thiel, Ken Howery
Notable Investments: SpaceX, Quantcast, ZocDoc

Founded by members of the "PayPal Mafia," the Founders Fund's mission has been to fund the most daring and innovative companies on and off the Internet. This has led the San Francisco firm to invest in everything from Path, Facebook, Spotify, and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Year Founded: 1983
Founded By: Arthur Patterson, Jim Swartz
Notable Investments: Spotify, Dropbox, Etsy

With over $8.8 billion in investments and 300 successful startups under its belt, Accel has proven itself as one of the most powerful VC firms for more than 20 years. Not only has it helped startups become some of the best known companies in the world (Facebook, Groupon, Spotify, Etsy), it's also acquired other VC firms along the way, giving it a reach much farther than its Palo Alto, California headquarters.

Year Founded: 1995
Founded By: Jonathan Schulhof
Notable Investments: Snapchat, Yelp, Red Hat

Benchmark made its name two years after launch when it invested a reported $6.7 million into online auction site eBay. Suffice to say, the firm made its money back quite easily. Since then the firm has helped other high-profile online companies like Yelp and Instagram, as well as some real-world companies like Zipcar.

Year Founded: 2009
Founded By: Larry Page, Sergey Brin
Notable Investments: Uber, Nest, 23andMe

If you're trying to get your startup off the ground, why not seek help from one of the greatest startups of all time? That's the thinking behind Google's investment arm, Google Ventures. Since launching in 2009, Ventures has helped over 200 companies. Google shares a hefty chunk of its expertise—engineering, marketing, design—with budding entrepreneurs to help them see their vision through. The company also launched a center called Startup Lab where founders can meet and chill with one another, trade stories, and learn secrets and best practices.

Year Founded: 2009
Founded By: Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz
Notable Investments: Skype, Zynga, Instagram

If one person could be tapped to be the face of the modern-day tech book, Marc Andreessen would be the guy. As the founder of Netscape, the first web browser, Andreessen has seen the web grow from nothing into the glue that connects the world. Along with co-founder Ben Horowitz, the firm has helped guide some of the biggest Internet companies of the past few years including Skype, Facebook, and Twitter, of which it was one of the first investors. And to think it's only been around for four years.

Year Founded: 1972
Founded By: Don Valentine
Notable Investments: Apple, Google, PayPal

Founded by Don Valentine in 1972, Sequoia Capital isn't the oldest VC firm on this list, but it's the most prestigious. Sequoia has funded some of the tech industries biggest, most storied companies, including one started in a Cupertino garage by two young kids named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Also under their belt is Google, PayPal, Electronica Arts, and Yahoo. The firm's reach is so broad that nearly 20 percent of the NASDAQ's value is derived from companies funded by Sequoia. When it comes to power players, there is none higher.