Lux Capital Closes $1.5 Billion Ninth Fund in Oversubscribed Raise

Lux Capital closed its ninth venture fund at $1.5 billion on January 7, 2026, marking the largest capital raise in the firm's more than two-decade history.

Credit: Lux Capital

The New York-based venture capital firm, founded in 2000 by Peter Hébert, Josh Wolfe and Robert Paull, invests in startups focused on breakthroughs in physical, computational and life sciences, as well as national security and defense technologies.

The fund, named Lux Ventures IX, drew commitments that exceeded its target, leading the firm to turn away about $1 billion from potential investors.

Lux Capital's assets under management reached $7 billion after the close. The firm plans to deploy checks ranging from $100,000 to $100 million into startups across early and later stages.

"That is why we are especially excited to announce our largest fund to date, Lux Ventures IX, a $1.5B commitment to investing in the people turning sci-fi into sci-fact," Lux Capital stated in its announcement.

Lux Capital's portfolio includes Anduril Industries, valued at $30.5 billion after a 2017 seed investment; Applied Intuition, valued at $15 billion with Pentagon contracts; and Saildrone, a robotic maritime drone company with government deals.

The firm also backed AI startups Hugging Face, Runway AI and MosaicML, the last of which Databricks acquired for $1.3 billion in 2023. Investors in the fund include Carlyle Group co-founder Bill Conway and the New Mexico State Investment Council.

"We want to do more of what we’re doing, but also accelerate the pace and double down on our winners," said Peter Hébert, Lux Capital partner and co-founder.

The raise occurred as the U.S. Department of Defense implemented procurement reforms in November 2025 under Secretary Pete Hegseth to facilitate startup involvement in national security projects.

Lux Capital operates with 44 employees and maintains offices in New York City and Silicon Valley.