Austin-based venture firm 8VC, led by controversial Palantir founder Jon Lonsdale, has raised $880 million in its fifth fund.
In a blog post Posted today, Lonsdale, who serves as a general partner at 8VC, said his company’s mission is to “fix a broken world.”
While he did not specify which industries the new fund would target or the average check size, Lonsdale did disclose that 8VC now manages “more than $6 billion in committed capital” and that it plans to invest “at every stage” as well as build companies. . He also shared that the 8VC team has grown to over 60 people.
In 2020, 8VC famously moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, Texas. At that time, Lonsdale tweeted what austin was “*much* more tolerant of ideological diversity than science fiction.” He added: “Usually it’s a good idea to have awesome hippies to enjoy some great culture/music/food etc, but they don’t all rule the state.”
Today, he wrote that 8VC’s new headquarters in the Texas capital has “become a magnet for entrepreneurs and builders from around the world.”
The background is believed to be the largest Texas-based venture fund for startups, according to austininno.
Lonsdale’s post about the new fund has a philosophical tone. “There are enormous challenges facing our civilization, to be sure, and also challenges for entrepreneurship,” he wrote. “But as entrepreneurs, broken things present opportunity. And when we look deeper, we see amazing transformations taking place all around us. AI is transforming the world inside and outside of computers; genomic engineering and new scientific knowledge are transforming the world of cells; advanced manufacturing is transforming the world of machines; new business models, incentives and innovation are transforming the way we receive our health care. These are some of our borders”.
Over the years, 8VC has invested in companies spanning a variety of industries, including logistics, life sciences, healthcare, IT infrastructure, government and defense, financial services, consumers, and businesses. According tone book, Has made about 500 investments in total. between his portfolio companies they are Asana, Blend, Flexport, he and she, Mammoth Biosciences, Elon Musk’s The Boring Company, Qualia, and Wish.
Lonsdale has at times drawn as much attention to itself as it has to its portfolio companies. Early last year, he made headlines and ruffled more than one feather after tweets from him. on “awakened” technological diversity. Other controversies in which he has been involved include a break with previous investment partners and a high-profile lawsuit filed by a Stanford alumnus who later withdrew.
Lonsdale also, in connection with the paternity leave of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, tweeted by the end of 2021 that “any man in a high position who takes 6 months leave for a newborn… a loser”.
He has often defended himself against backlash, saying his words were misinterpreted or taken out of context.
In a New Yorker article this month on the austin transformation in recent years from liberal stronghold to “closer to libertarianism than liberalism,” Lonsdale spoke to the article’s author about his adopted hometown, telling him that part of its charm is that politics can be discussed in a civilized way.
“In San Francisco,” Lonsdale is quoted as saying, “when I went up against someone, they’d say, ‘You’re an evil person.’ So there’s still something very healthy going on in Texas. I really hope we can keep it this way.”
According to SEC filings, 8VC closed its latest flagship fund with $640 million in capital commitments in 2021; It has also raised numerous special purpose vehicles in recent years, show filings.
