October was a big month for venture funds, per SEC filings. The filings show that established names are currently commanding top dollar from LPs, especially with a specialized focus. Here are some of the most notable ones we found that haven’t been meaningfully announced or have seen important updates.
For one, Trust Ventures filed Monday to raise a $400 million Fund V. The Austin-based firm was founded in 2017 by Salen Churi to back founders building in highly regulated industries. Koch Disruptive Technologies notably backed the firm’s debut fund back in 2018. It previously sought to raise a $225 million Fund IV in 2023, though it’s unclear if or when that fund closed. Deep tech fund Interlagos Capital is also raising a $400 million Fund II.
Elsewhere, Victor Lazarte and Kris Fredrickson, two former Benchmark VCs, have raised $1.252 billion for their debut AI fund called Diffusion ONE. Forbes previously reported back in May that the two had teamed up (after raising smaller funds of their own) to launch this fund with a target of $800 million, meaning it’s far surpassed that original target. The firm has already cut big checks since its debut, including co-leading Harvey’s $550 million Series H with Lightspeed Ventures and taking part in Etched’s $300 million Series C, announced in July.
Speaking of Benchmark, the firm filed what looks like four new partner-only funds, called Benchmark Partners Founders’ Fund T1, Benchmark Partners Founders’ Fund 2, Benchmark Partners Founders’ Fund 2-A, and Benchmark Partners Founders’ Fund T1-A, seeking to raise $220 million, $132 million, $4.5 million, and $7.5 million, respectively. Jack Altman, who recently left his own firm to join Benchmark, is listed in each filing.
Meanwhile, Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC also seems to be seeking to raise new vehicles — including a $400 million fund called 8VC DSS III; a $30.35 million fund called 8VC COSC; a $20.35 million 8VC BRSC fund; and a fund called 8VC AI Fund XI, which has already raised $13.5 million, including from 8VC itself. This follows the July news that 8VC raised $1.5 billion for Fund VII.
Earlier this month, Notable Capital, backers of companies like Anthropic, Airbnb, and Square, filed to raise a fifth fund, while Neil Mehta’s Greenoaks, which co-led Anthropic’s $65 billion Series H, filed to raise a fund called Greenoaks 7. The timing is good as Anthropic just took another major step in its efforts to go public, meaning the firms are already prepared to market themselves based on possible handsome returns. According to PitchBook, Greenoaks has also backed companies like Ramp and Anthropic.
Industry Ventures, meanwhile, has raised at least $1.7 billion for its secondaries fund, which opened in late July. The size of the vehicle shows how important that market has become, as appetite grows to buy into hot exiting private companies. One family office advisor told TechCrunch last month about how popular the secondaries market has become, while Emily Zheng, a senior VC analyst at PitchBook, said that stakes in Anthropic and OpenAI are some of the “most contested real estate in venture.”
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Dominic-Madori Davis is a senior venture capital and startup reporter at TechCrunch. She is based in New York City.
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