{"id":18689,"date":"2026-02-04T12:56:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=18689"},"modified":"2026-02-04T12:56:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:56:31","slug":"kleiner-perkinss-leigh-marie-braswell-learned-about-risk-from-playing-poker-if-the-odds-are-in-your-favor-you-push-your-chips-to-the-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=18689","title":{"rendered":"Kleiner Perkins\u2019s Leigh Marie Braswell learned about risk from playing poker: \u201cIf the odds are in your favor, you push your chips to the center\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Leigh Marie Braswell likes a game of risk, particularly if it\u2019s a game of math.<\/p>\n

\n

Braswell grew up in rural Alabama, and wasn\u2019t introduced to poker until she was an undergrad at MIT. And it wasn\u2019t until she was an intern at Jane Street, the famed quantitative trading firm, that she was hooked on the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t go out and party in New York\u2014we stayed in and played poker,\u201d said Braswell. \u201cSo, that\u2019s how I really learned by playing every day against people at Jane Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Braswell immediately joined the MIT Poker Club, where she reunited with Alexandr Wang, who she\u2019d first met at a competitive math competition in her junior year of high school. Braswell went on to be an early employee at Scale AI, at the time knowing nothing about venture capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI barely knew what VC as a concept was,\u201d she remembers. \u201cAlex told me \u2018oh, we\u2019re signing a Series A term sheet.\u2019 And then I went off and Googled: \u2018What\u2019s a Series A term sheet?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Braswell, now a partner at Kleiner Perkins, may be an unlikely VC, but her path to venture was built slowly and then all at once. She started angel investing in 2020, her last year at Scale: Her first check was into Ambience Healthcare, now valued at $1.1 billion. After more than two years at Founders Fund, Braswell joined Kleiner, a legendary firm in the midst of a turnaround led by Mamoon Hamid and Ilya Fushman. I spent more than six months getting to know the team at Kleiner, including Braswell, to tell the story of that turnaround (a 3,600-word feature published this past weekend). And Braswell repeatedly came up as someone who\u2019s a rising star, not just at Kleiner, but in VC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why? It\u2019s simple: Braswell has been a key investor behind some of the buzziest AI deals that materialized in 2025. At Kleiner, she backed Windsurf (an Alphabet acquihire) and Neon (acquired by Databricks), and her Founders Fund deal to back Chronosphere ultimately saw the company acquired by Palo Alto Networks. (Yes, 2025 was a big year for Braswell, who\u2019s been in VC for six years if you squint, an industry where often people are successful with one or two real exits after a decade.)<\/p>\n

Braswell\u2014whose current Kleiner portfolio includes Nooks, Convoke, Reevo, Avoca, and Forge\u2014doesn\u2019t exactly consider herself an AI investor, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI do describe myself as relatively generalist,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever\u2026 you definitely want to have unfair advantages, or pools of certain people and networks that you\u2019re really in. And when you look at those networks of people\u2014especially these days and with good reason\u2014that\u2019s ideally in and around AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Braswell had started hosting regular poker nights with Wang while she was at Scale, and she still does\u2014over time, they\u2019ve become a piece of her investing strategy. It\u2019s a recurring way to source deals, build founder relationships, and help portfolio companies hire. But it\u2019s also a mindset.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because in the end, poker\u2019s about tracking probabilities and making decisions with incomplete information, much like early-stage investing. And though there may be things you can\u2019t know, you can know your odds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe core lesson from poker,\u201d said Braswell, \u201cand it\u2019s something I\u2019m grateful for as a VC: If the odds are in your favor, you push your chips to the center.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the entire feature on Kleiner Perkins\u2019s past, present, and future here.<\/p>\n

Exclusive\u2026<\/strong>TRM Labs, a blockchain analytics firm that builds crime-fighting software for government agencies and the private sector, raised a $70 million Series C valuing the startup at $1 billion. You can read all about it here.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Fortune<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Term Sheet Podcast\u2026<\/strong> <\/em>The Term Sheet Podcast is back this week, and our latest guest: Kristina Shen of Chemistry. In 2024, Shen left her role as a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz to start new VC firm Chemistry with Mark Goldberg and Ethan Kurzweil. Kristina and I talk about starting a VC firm from scratch, how she thinks about AI revenue, and healthcare. Watch and listen here.<\/p>\n

See you tomorrow,<\/p>\n

Allie Garfinkle
X:<\/strong> @agarfinks
Email:<\/strong> alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.<\/p>\n

Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today\u2019s newsletter<\/em>.<\/em> Subscribe here.<\/p>\n

VENTURE CAPITAL<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Skyryse<\/b>, an El Segundo, Calif.-based developer of aviation automation technology, raised $300 million in Series C funding. <\/span>Autopilot<\/b> Ventures<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Fidelity Management & Research Company<\/b>, <\/span>ArrowMark<\/b> Partners<\/b>, <\/span>Atreides<\/b> Management<\/b>, <\/span>BAM<\/b> Elevate<\/b>, <\/span>Baron Capital Group<\/b>, <\/span>Durable<\/b> Capital<\/b> Partners<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Tomorrow.io<\/b>, a Boston, Mass.-based weather modeling company, raised $175 million in funding. <\/span>Stonecourt<\/b> Capital<\/b> and <\/span>HarbourVest<\/b> led the round.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Ares<\/b> Interactive<\/b>, a San Francisco and Berlin, Germany-based game developer, raised $70 million in Series A funding. <\/span>General<\/b> Catalyst<\/b> led the round and was joined by others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Alaffia<\/b> Health<\/b>, a New York City-based agentic AI platform designed to manage health plan claims, raised $55 million in Series B funding. <\/span>Transformation<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>FirstMark<\/b> Capital<\/b>, <\/span>Tau<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and <\/span>Twine<\/b> Ventures<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Lotus Health AI<\/b>, a San Francisco-based developer of an AI doctor platform, raised $35 million in Series A funding. <\/span>CRV<\/b> and <\/span>Kleiner<\/b> Perkins<\/b> led the round.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>ORION<\/b> Security<\/b>, a New York City and Tel Aviv, Israel-based AI-native data security company, raised $32 million in Series A funding. <\/span>Norwest<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>IBM<\/b> and existing investors.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Avalanche Energy<\/b>, a Seattle, Wash.-based fusion energy company, raised $29 million in funding. <\/span>RA Capital Management<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>8090 Industries<\/b>, <\/span>Overlay<\/b> Capital<\/b>, and existing investors.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Veremark<\/b>, a London, U.K.-based background screening, whistleblowing, and credential verification platform for workplaces, raised $26 million in Series B funding. <\/span>Gresham House Ventures<\/b> led the round and was joined by others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Pasito<\/b>, a New York City-based AI-native employee benefits platform, raised $21 million in Series A funding. <\/span>Insight<\/b> Partners<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Y Combinator<\/b> and<\/span> MTech Capital<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Synthpop<\/b>, a Cambridge, Mass.-based agentic AI platform designed to automate health care workflows, raised $15 million in Series A funding. <\/span>Ansa<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and was joined by others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Breezy<\/b>, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based AI operating system designed for residential real estate professionals, raised $10 million in pre-seed funding. <\/span>Ribbit<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Fifth Wall<\/b>, <\/span>DST Global<\/b>, <\/span>Liquid 2 Ventures<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>enclaive<\/b>, a Berlin, Germany-based cybersecurity company, raised \u20ac4.1 million ($4.8 million) in seed funding. <\/span>Join<\/b> Capital<\/b> and the <\/span>Amadeus<\/b> APEX<\/b> Technology<\/b> Fund<\/b> led the round and were joined by <\/span>Auriga<\/b> Cyber<\/b> Ventures<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

PRIVATE EQUITY<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>AEA<\/b> Investors<\/b> acquired a majority stake in <\/span>Magna5<\/b>, a Canonsburg, Pa.-based provider of managed IT, cybersecurity, and cloud-based services. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Arax Investment Partners<\/b>, backed by <\/span>RedBird<\/b> Capital<\/b>, acquired <\/span>GFP<\/b> Private<\/b> Wealth<\/b>, a Cleveland, Ohio-based investment advisor. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Pendo<\/b>, backed by <\/span>Thoma<\/b> Bravo<\/b>, acquired <\/span>Chisel<\/b> Labs<\/b>, a San Francisco and Pune, India-based AI-powered platform designed for product management teams. Financial terms were not disclosed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Skyline<\/b> Investors<\/b> acquired <\/span>Buddy\u2019s Home<\/b> Furnishings<\/b>, an Orlando, Fla.-based furniture, electronics, and appliances retailer. Financial terms<\/span> were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

EXITS<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Littlejohn & Co.<\/b> acquired <\/span>80\/20<\/b>, a Columbia City, Ind.-based provider of configurable, modular framing solutions, from <\/span>MPE<\/b> Partners<\/b>. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0– <\/span>Vivo<\/b> Capital<\/b> agreed to acquire <\/span>Dutscher<\/b> Group<\/b>, a Bernolsheim, France-based consumables and equipment distribution company for R&D laboratories, from <\/span>LBO<\/b> France<\/b>. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

IPOS<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>ARKO Petroleum<\/b>, a Richmond, Va.-based energy distributor, plans to raise up to $210 million in an offering of 10.5 million shares priced between $18 and $20. <\/span>ARKO Corp.<\/b> backs the company.<\/span><\/p>\n

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Otro<\/b> Capital<\/b>, a New York City-based private equity firm, raised $1.2 billion for its first fund focused on companies in the sports ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n

PEOPLE<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>ATL<\/b> Partners<\/b>, a New York City-based private equity firm, promoted <\/span>Lauren<\/b> DiBartolomeo<\/b> to chief operating officer. The firm also promoted <\/span>Josh<\/b> Raj<\/b> and <\/span>Daniel<\/b> Wu<\/b> to vice president.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Vista Equity Partners<\/b>, an Austin, Texas-based private equity firm, hired <\/span>Suzanne<\/b> Donohoe<\/b> as chief operating officer and chief commercial officer.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Kleiner #Perkinss #Leigh #Marie #Braswell #learned #risk #playing #poker #odds #favor #push #chips #center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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