What Happened

Bryan Kim, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz for more than five years, is setting up a new venture firm called Mido Capital. According to The Wall Street Journal, as reported by The Next Web, Kim plans to raise approximately $100M for the fund's first vehicle, which will target early-stage consumer AI startups. Formation papers were filed in Delaware last month.

Kim announced his departure from a16z in April 2026, writing in a public post that it was 'time to build' and 'time to paddle hard.' He spent over five years on the firm's consumer and AI-apps team. His standout investment was ElevenLabs, the voice-AI company where a16z co-led both the Series A and Series B rounds. ElevenLabs has since become one of the most recognized names in AI-generated voice. Kim's other investments included Function Health, the invitations app Partiful, and mental-health startup SlingshotAI. Before joining a16z, he worked at Snap.

Kim did not comment on the new fund. The $100M target has not been independently confirmed beyond the WSJ report.

Why It Matters

Consumer AI is a narrow and surprisingly stagnant slice of the AI boom. According to PitchBook data cited in the report, only about 12% of roughly 26,000 AI and machine-learning companies are consumer-facing. Strip out the three giants — OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI — and investors put $17.5B into consumer AI startups in 2025, up just 3.6% from 2024. That's nearly flat in a year when overall AI funding surged.

The category also lives in OpenAI's shadow. ChatGPT and a handful of platforms dominate how most people first encounter AI, making it difficult for smaller consumer apps to gain distribution and retention. Kim's wager is explicitly contrarian: the interesting companies are not the ones trying to be OpenAI. They are the ones building on cheap, abundant intelligence — using APIs and models as infrastructure — rather than racing to supply the intelligence themselves.

A $100M fund is modest in a market where the largest firms are raising billions for AI. But that's the point. Mido Capital is a focused specialist bet, not a land grab. It also joins a steady trend of partners leaving big firms to run their own money — a pattern that has accelerated as AI creates new sub-categories too narrow for mega-funds to cover well.

Who Is Affected

Early-stage consumer AI founders are the primary beneficiaries — Mido Capital represents a new, focused capital source led by an investor with a proven consumer AI track record. Enterprise AI and infrastructure companies are not directly in the fund's crosshairs. For LPs and the broader venture market, this is a signal worth watching: a seasoned operator with one of the best consumer AI hits in recent years is betting his career on the category at a time when its growth numbers look underwhelming.

Strategic Implications

For AI startup founders: If you're building a consumer-facing AI product, Mido Capital is a potential backer with deep consumer expertise and a demonstrated eye for breakout bets. Frame your pitch around the 'building on cheap intelligence' thesis — applications that create durable consumer value on top of commoditized models — rather than competing with foundation model providers.

For developers/operators building with AI APIs: Kim's fund thesis validates the idea that the application layer is where the next consumer AI value accrues. If you're building on APIs from ElevenLabs, OpenAI, or others, this signals growing investor appetite for your category — but also growing competition for the same consumer attention.

For non-technical business owners evaluating AI tools: More capital flowing into consumer AI means more product options, but also more noise. The flat funding growth outside the top three names suggests many consumer AI apps are struggling to retain users. Evaluate tools on retention and unit economics, not just novelty.

What to Watch Next

Monitor for Mido Capital's formal fund close announcement and first investments — the specific companies Kim backs first will signal which consumer AI sub-categories he believes are ready to break out. Also watch whether other a16z or tier-one firm partners follow a similar path into focused AI funds.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who is Bryan Kim and what is Mido Capital?

A: Bryan Kim is a former Andreessen Horowitz partner who led the firm's investment in ElevenLabs. He is leaving a16z to found Mido Capital, a new venture firm reportedly raising approximately $100M to invest in early-stage consumer AI startups.

Q: How big is the consumer AI market for startups?

A: According to PitchBook, roughly 12% of about 26,000 AI and machine-learning companies are consumer-facing. Excluding OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, investors put $17.5B into consumer AI startups in 2025, up just 3.6% from the prior year — indicating slow growth relative to the broader AI funding boom.