8VC, a enterprise agency led by Palantir founder Joe Lonsdale, is searching for practically $1 billion for its sixth fund, in line with a regulatory filing.
The Austin-based agency’s newest fund goals to lift practically 14% greater than its earlier $880 million flagship automobile, which closed in February 2023. TechCrunch has reached out to the agency for remark.
Since its founding 10 years in the past, 8VC has invested in over 600 corporations, together with Asana, Flexport, hims and hers, and Elon Musk’s the Boring firm, in line with PitchBook knowledge. Nonetheless, given Lonsdale’s protection roots, the agency’s investments within the sector have drawn probably the most consideration.
In 2022, 8VC was a seed investor in Saronic, a producer of robotic boat drones that may additionally collect surveillance and reconnaissance. Since then, the corporate has closed two rounds and is at present in talks to lift $500 million at a $3 billion valuation, Forbes reported.
8VC’s different protection tech investments embody Overland AI, a startup that’s creating autonomous automobiles for protection and nationwide safety functions. When Overland raised a $32 million Sequence A earlier this month, Lonsdale instructed Axios that the corporate is able to turn into the “subsequent nice protection prime.”
One other huge space of focus for the agency is healthtech and life sciences, representing over 1 / 4 of 8VC offers, together with the now publicly traded biotechs Senti Bio and Vir.
Lonsdale moved 8VC from Silicon Valley to Austin in 2020 as a result of he felt the town was extra tolerant of ‘ideological diversity.’
Though Lonsdale just isn’t technically a member of the PayPal mafia, he was an intern on the firm for 2 summers. He then labored as an govt at Clarium Capital, the now-defunct- hedge fund based by Peter Thiel.
Along with founding Palantir, Lonsdale co-founded a wealth administration and funding software program firm, Addepar, reportedly elevating $250 million at a $3.25 billion pre-money valuation.