Early Cerebras Investor Adit Singh Joins Mayfield as Infrastructure Partner

Adit Singh, an early investor in AI chipmaker Cerebras, has joined longtime venture firm Mayfield as a partner focused on infrastructure investing.

Singh will back startups across hardware, infrastructure software, cybersecurity and physical AI. His move comes as increasingly expensive AI infrastructure startups require venture firms to write much larger checks even at the seed stage.

Singh spotted Cerebras early.

Singh was a partner at Foundation Capital when he helped source and co-lead—the firm’s first investment in Cerebras, then a little-known semiconductor startup. By the time Cerebras went public in May, Foundation held roughly 7% of the company, making it its third-largest shareholder. Bloomberg reported on the multibillion-dollar returns generated for early Cerebras investors following the IPO.

Singh credits his electrical engineering background with helping him recognise the company’s potential. A chip designer by training, he said his strength is understanding computing workloads from the application layer down to the transistor level.

After Foundation, Singh co-founded Neotribe Ventures in 2017 and spent four years leading the firm before joining early-stage investor Cota Capital.

Mayfield’s semiconductor portfolio helped attract Singh.

Singh said Mayfield’s strength in semiconductor investing was a major reason for joining the firm. He pointed to companies including Upscale AI and Lumilens as examples of its infrastructure portfolio.

Lumilens, which develops optical interconnect technology to replace traditional electrical connections in AI data centres, recently raised $700 million at a valuation of about $5.5 billion.

The size of such rounds also influenced Singh’s decision. Seed financing for infrastructure startups has grown substantially as companies tackle capital-intensive areas such as semiconductors, networking and physical AI. Mayfield manages about $3 billion and can invest as much as $20 million at the seed stage, giving it more room to compete for larger early rounds than smaller venture funds.

A 15-year relationship helped bring Singh to Mayfield

Mayfield managing partner Navin Chaddha said he has known Singh for about 15 years. The two have served together on three startup boards, including Upscale AI and AI startup Velaura AI.

Chaddha said discussions about Singh joining Mayfield had been underway for some time before the timing finally worked out.

For Singh, the move brings his semiconductor background and early-stage investing experience to a firm that is increasing its focus on the foundational technologies behind AI. As funding requirements for infrastructure startups rise, Mayfield is betting that larger early checks combined with deep technical expertise can help it compete for companies building the hardware and software beneath the next generation of AI systems.