Lux Capital closes $1.5 billion ninth fund

Venture capital firm Lux Capital has closed its ninth fund at $1.5 billion, marking the largest fund in the firm’s history. The successful close of this new vehicle brings the firm’s total assets under management to $7 billion.

This fundraising milestone comes during a challenging period for the broader venture capital industry. According to data from financial data company PitchBook, 2025 marked a 10-year low for the number of new venture capital funds raised in the U.S. Despite this market downturn, Lux Capital secured significant commitments from its limited partners, driven by its track record of early investments in sectors that have since become highly valuable.

The firm’s investment strategy has focused on early-stage investments in defense technology and artificial intelligence, establishing positions in these sectors years before geopolitical shifts and technological developments turned them into highly sought-after investment categories. Lux Capital’s portfolio highlights its focus on these industries:

• Anduril: A defense technology startup in which Lux Capital acted as an early investment phase investor. The company was last valued at $30.5 billion.
• Applied Intuition: An autonomous vehicle startup that secured contracts with the Pentagon and was valued at $15 billion last year.
• Hugging Face and Runway AI: Artificial intelligence startups backed by the firm during their early stages, before the broader industry experienced rapid growth post-ChatGPT.
• MosaicML: An artificial intelligence startup that was acquired by Databricks for $1.3 billion in 2023.

In addition to its active portfolio, Lux Capital has realized significant exits from its earlier investments. These exits include Recursion Pharmaceuticals, an artificial intelligence drug discovery company that went public in 2021, and Auris Health, a surgical robotics company. Auris Health was sold to Johnson & Johnson for up to $6 billion in 2019.

Why it matters

Lux Capital’s ability to raise a record-sized fund during a severe market downturn highlights the value of its early, contrarian bets on defense and artificial intelligence. By establishing positions in these sectors before they became mainstream investment categories, the firm positioned itself to capture significant value as geopolitical and technological shifts accelerated.