While the size of funds of many venture capital firms has ballooned into billions of dollars over the last decade, Benchmark Partners did the opposite by raising around $425 million in capital every few years - making it one of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley.

That's what the storied firm wrote in a letter to its limited partners when it announced its latest fund this summer, according to The Information. But Benchmark's partners aren't capping themselves at whatever capital commitment they set for their main investment fund. The firm is currently raising an additional $170 million for a fund called Benchmark Partners Founders' Fund I, according to two regulatory filings.

Benchmark isn't shyly touting its LPs to commit more dollars in a new strategy. TechCrunch understands that $170 million is expected to pour in from the firm's former and current partners, while their friends are also on the list to put money in. That's not uncommon, a source close to the fund tells me. It's always been a partners-only fund.

While it is not unusual, and often a requirement, that partners contribute their personal capital alongside LPs into their main funds, it is more rare that a firm has a large separate fund composed almost entirely of partners' own money.

But Benchmark is not just any other VC firm. It was among the first investors in companies such as eBay, Snap, Uber, and Twitter, and returned billions to backside over these years, often multiplying the original invested funds by as much as ten times, according to reports from Forbes and The Information.

So its partners have every reason to want to double down on their investments. A separate fund allows them to do so in a manner that does not involve managing money for limited partners. They are not alone in thinking this way as a VC. Homebrew, the venture capital firm started by Satya Patel―former Twitter, Battery Ventures and Google insider―and Hunter Walk―former YouTube and Google engineer―threw in the towel on limited partner money in 2022 and today their main fund is all their money. Sequoia also seeded its standalone wealth management firm, Sequoia Heritage, with $150 million apiece from partner Michael Moritz and Doug Leone, though it took on $250 million from outside investors, too.

Benchmark has always operated less like the giant VC firms. For example, it is an equal partnership firm, meaning that every partner shares an equal percentage of the outfit's management fees as well as profits. The firm invests primarily in Series A-stage companies for around 20% ownership and is so sought after that its website is little more than a landing page.