At a Glance
- $1.5 billion: Lux Capital closes its largest fund ever on January 7, 2026
- Defense tech leader: Early backer of Anduril (now valued at $30.5B) and Applied Intuition ($15B)
- AI pioneer: Pre-ChatGPT bets on Hugging Face, Runway AI, and MosaicML (sold for $1.3B)
- Why it matters: In a 10-year VC funding low, Lux shows how early bets on dual-use tech pay off
Lux Capital just defied the 2025 venture slump by closing a record $1.5 billion ninth fund, pushing its total assets to $7 billion and cementing its status as the go-to investor for frontier science and defense tech.
Biggest Bet Yet
The 25-year-old firm’s latest haul arrives as U.S. VC fundraising hits a decade low. Lux’s timing looks prescient: it seeded defense unicorn Anduril years before geopolitics made military tech fashionable and backed autonomous-vehicle startup Applied Intuition well before Pentagon contracts rolled in.
Early AI Wins
Lux’s AI portfolio also got ahead of the curve:
- Seed check in Hugging Face
- Early funding for Runway AI
- MosaicML, acquired by Databricks for $1.3 billion in 2023
Exits keep rolling: Recursion Pharmaceuticals went public in 2021 and surgical-robot pioneer Auris Health sold to Johnson & Johnson for up to $6 billion in 2019.
Key Takeaways
- $1.5 billion fund is Lux’s largest ever, lifting AUM to $7 billion
- Firm’s early defense-tech picks now command multibillion-dollar valuations
- Pre-ChatGPT AI investments already delivering outsized returns
- Fundraising success contrasts with 10-year low in new VC vehicles
With its war-chest replenished, Lux is positioned to keep writing early tickets to the next wave of dual-use breakthroughs.
