The Forbes Midas list is the annual ranking by Forbes magazine of the most influential and best-performing venture capital investors. Described by Kara Swisher as the "Oscars for venture capitalists in tech," the Midas List uses parameters that include the first-day market capitalization of IPOs and the opinions of a panel of experts. It also includes a Midas Seed list for ranking seed stage investors.
The name alludes to the mythological King Midas, renowned for his ability to turn anything he touched into gold. Forbes partnered with venture capital fund TrueBridge Capital Partners to create the list.
History The inaugural Midas List was published in the February 19, 2001 issue of Forbes. The print issue featured the top 50 names while the full list of 100 names was posted exclusively online. Carleen Hawn was the editor of the list and five staffers were credited as producers.
Midas List Top 10, 2026 According to Forbes, the top 10 venture capitalists in 2026 are as follows: RankNameFirmNotable DealHeadquarters1Vinod KhoslaKhosla VenturesOpenAIPortola Valley, California2Neil ShenHSGByteDanceHong Kong, China3Eric VishriaBenchmark CapitalCerebrasAtherton, California4Gili RaananCyberstartsWizMichmoret, Israel5Peter ThielFounders FundSpaceXLos Angeles, California6Elad GilGil CapitalOpenAISan Francisco, California8Trae StephensFounders FundAndurilSan Francisco, California8Douglas LeoneSequoia CapitalWizAtherton, California9Martin MignotIndex VenturesRevolutNew York, New York10Shardul ShahIndex VenturesWizNew York, New York
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