It started with a teenage boy in India reading about a young chip company called Intel and wondering why innovation seemed to happen so far from home. That curiosity slowly turned into ambition, and ambition brought him to the US. Years later, fighting rejections and backing ideas others thought were too risky, that same boy helped shape Silicon Valley’s startup culture and built a multibillion-dollar fortune.
Today, Vinod Khosla, the founder of Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm is the second richest Indian in America. His journey from a middle-class home in Pune to the upper ranks of America’s richest tech investors is no less than a classic Silicon Valley tale.
Khosla’s wealth has seen a striking jump in 2025. As of December 23, 2025, his real-time net worth stands at about $12.7 billion.
Vinod Khosla’s net worth surges in 2025
Similar to Jay Chaudhry—the richest Indian in America, whose net worth jumped nearly 70 percent this year to about $17 billion earlier in January—Khosla has also seen a sharp rise in his wealth. From $9.01 billion in 2024, his net worth has climbed by nearly $3.7 billion in just one year. Even in recent months, his fortune has continued to grow, adding over $220 million, a gain of close to two percent.
Forbes currently ranks him 234th among billionaires worldwide and 92nd in the United States. He also features on elite lists, including the Forbes 400 and the Midas List of top tech investors. Much of this surge is the result of the growing value of his early bets on bold technology companies, many of which have matured or gone public.
Who is Vinod Khosla?
Coming from a defence background, with his father serving in the Indian Army, Khosla was expected to follow the same path. Instead, he grew interested in entrepreneurship after reading about the founding of Intel.
Khosla studied electrical engineering at IIT Delhi. He started the institute’s first computer club and even wrote a paper on parallel processing long before it became mainstream. As a student, he also helped launch India’s first biomedical engineering program.
In 1975, he tried to start a soy milk business to help those indians without refrigerators. The idea failed due to a lack of funding. He was told it would take seven years just to get a phone line. At 21 with almost no money, he left for the United States with a college admission in hand.
Khosla landed at Carnegie Mellon University on a full scholarship and earned a master’s degree in biomedical engineering. His path to Stanford Business School was anything but easy. Rejected twice for lack of work experience, he took on two full-time jobs while studying. Three weeks into starting his MBA elsewhere, he convinced Stanford to admit him. He graduated in 1980, ready to enter Silicon Valley.
Now 70, Khosla lives with his wife Neeru, his partner since he was 16, and their four children.
Building companies and backing the future
Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 alongside Andy Bechtolsheim, Bill Joy, and Scott McNealy. The company went on to become a major force in computer hardware, servers, and software. After leaving Sun, Khosla spent nearly two decades at Kleiner Perkins.
In 2004, he launched Khosla Ventures. The firm supported companies in biomedicine, robotics, fintech, clean energy, and artificial intelligence. It was also the first venture firm to invest in OpenAI. Over the years, Khosla Ventures scored big exits through IPOs and listings of companies like DoorDash, Affirm, QuantumScape, and Opendoor. Khosla Ventures has invested in over 1,400 companies as of 2025, as tracked by CB Insights.
Beyond business, Khosla is also nvolved in philanthropy. He co-founded the CK-12 Foundation, supports education and climate initiatives, and also serves on multiple advisory boards.
