After a surge of venture capital investments from the 2021 bubble failed to yield strong returns for many firms, limited partners like endowments, pension plans, and sovereign wealth funds have shifted their strategy. They are now funneling a greater share of their capital into a select group of established firms with proven track records.
The latest beneficiary of this trend is Lightspeed Venture Partners. The 25-year-old firm announced it has raised a total of nine billion dollars in fresh funds, marking the largest fundraise in its history. This massive capital infusion arrives at a time when very few companies have managed to go public. Lightspeed has bucked this trend with early investments in several recent IPOs, including Rubrik, Netskope, and Navan.
The firm has also positioned itself as a predominantly AI-focused investor, claiming to have backed 165 AI-native companies. Notable names in its portfolio include Anthropic, xAI, Databricks, Mistral, Glean, Abridge, and Skild AI. Armed with its giant new fund, Lightspeed can continue making massive investments into capital-intensive AI companies. For instance, the firm reportedly wrote a one billion dollar check to Anthropic when it co-led the AI company’s thirteen billion dollar investment round in September.
Lightspeed’s new capital is spread across six funds. This includes a 3.3 billion dollar opportunity fund dedicated to follow-on investments in its fastest-growing portfolio companies. Other large venture firms have also recently raised enormous capital pools. These include Founders Fund, which amassed 4.6 billion dollars for a growth fund earlier this year, as well as General Catalyst’s eight billion dollar haul and Andreessen Horowitz’s 7.2 billion dollar raise, both secured in 2024.
Meanwhile, younger and smaller venture capital firms are struggling to attract fresh funds. According to PitchBook data, 2025 is on pace to record the fewest VC fund closings in the past ten years.