Even as liquidity from exits remains stalled, it hasn’t stopped some firms from raising massive new growth funds.
The most recent example is Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, which has closed a $4.6 billion late-stage venture fund, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The new fund, Founders Fund Growth III, had been reported back in December as being about $3 billion.
Going big
The San Francisco-based firm is best known for its investments over the years which include Airbnb, Palantir and Stripe, and recently invested heavily in defense tech — including co-leading Costa Mesa, California-based Anduril Industries’ huge $1.5 billion Series F along with Sands Capital Ventures that valued the company at $14 billion.
News of the new fund comes just as several companies halt their IPO process and the M&A market remains murky as stock market tumult and threats of a possible trade war make many investors uneasy.
The stall in exits has been a cause for concern among VCs, as DPI — distributed to paid-in capital, or the capital paid to funds’ LPs after exits by those funds’ portfolio companies — remains their top issue.
Despite that, Founders has been quite active this year, per Crunchbase data. In the first three-and-a-half months, the firm has made 20 investments into startups.
Late last year, Founders led a $600 million round for Crusoe Energy Systems that valued the energy firm at $2.8 billion.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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