After a wave of VC investment from the bubble of 2021 failed to generate strong returns from many venture firms, limited partners such as endowments, pension plans and sovereign wealth funds began to funnel larger share of their capital in a select group of established companies with a proven track record.
The most recent massive capital draw came at Lightspeed Venture Partners. The 25-year-old venture capital firm announced Monday that it raised a total of 9 billion dollars in new capital, the largest fundraiser in the company’s history.
At a time when few companies have succeeded in IPOs, Lightspeed was an early investor in Rubrik, Netskope and Navan, which recently made their public market debuts.
The company has also positioned itself as an investor primarily focused on artificial intelligence. Lightspeed claims to have backed 165 native AI companies, including Anthropic, xAI, Databricks, Mistral, Glean, Abridge and Skild AI.
Armed with its giant new fund, the company can continue to make massive investments in capital-intensive AI companies. For example, Lightspeed reportedly wrote a $1 billion check to Anthropic when it closed on the LLM maker’s $13 billion investment in September.
Lightspeed’s new capital is spread across six funds, including a $3.3 billion opportunity fund dedicated to follow-on investments in its fastest-growing portfolio companies.
Other major VC firms that have recently raised massive fund raisings include Founders Fund, which earlier this year raised $4.6 billion for a growth fund. General Catalyst’s $8 billion capital and Andreessen Horowitz’s $7.2 billion, both secured in 2024.
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Meanwhile, newer and smaller VC firms are struggling to attract new capital. According to PitchBook data, 2025 marks the fewest VC fund closings in the last 10 years.
