One of the biggest VC firms in the world just raised a $1.4 billion war chest to back the next Google

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins has raised $1.4 billion (£1 billion) to invest in technology startups, according to SEC filings published on Wednesday.

Kleiner Perkins, which backed the likes of Google and Amazon in their early days, plans to use $1 billion (£748 million) of that to back later-stage tech companies in "growth" mode and $400 million (£299 million) to back early stage startups.

The investment firm - described by The Wall Street Journal as one of the largest venture capital businesses in the world - has appointed new leaders to oversee the capital, including new general partner Noah Knauf, who spent nine years working for private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

Legendary billionaire investor John Doerr, who has been with the firm since the 1990s and backed the likes of Google, was not listed as one of the people that will manage the new funding.

Kleiner Perkins - located on Silicon Valley's famous Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, where there is said to be more VC money than there is across the whole of London - has developed a strong reputation over the years by backing household technology companies in their early days.

In 1999, Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital paid $25 million (£19 million) for what is thought to have been around 20% of Google. Google is now worth around $500 billion (£374 billion). It has also backed Amazon, AOL, Citrix, Zynga, and Sun Microsystems.

The investor has raised the fresh funds at an interesting time for the venture capital industry. Valuations for certain venture capital-backed businesses are cooling off, and there have been relatively few IPOs in the last year.