Founders Fund has raised $6 billion after spending $4.6 billion in less than a year on Anthropic, Anduril, and OpenAI.

      Founders Fund has finalized a $6 billion growth fund, its largest to date, following the rapid depletion of its previous $4.6 billion fund, which was utilized in less than a year. The earlier fund supported just seven companies, with an average investment of $600 million per company, including significant investments of $1.25 billion in Anthropic and $1 billion in Anduril. This trend highlights a venture capital landscape increasingly divided into mega-funds vying for a limited number of AI startups and smaller funds targeting other opportunities.

      The venture capital firm, co-founded by Peter Thiel, announced the closing of its $6 billion growth fund on May 1, marking its fourth dedicated funding for late-stage investments. Of the total, $4.5 billion was provided by limited partners, including sovereign wealth funds, while the remaining $1.5 billion came from the firm’s partners and employees, like Thiel himself. This new fund was established in under a year— the quickest turnaround in the firm’s 20-year history— because the previous fund was expended in less than twelve months, despite originally intending for it to last two to three years. This time, the firm engaged with companies before they officially began fundraising, issuing an average check size of around $600 million to seven firms. The new $6 billion fund is forecasted to support about twelve startups, but based on previous trends, it may not last as long as anticipated.

      The payout structure of the previous fund underscores this swiftness of investing. Founders Fund allocated $1.25 billion in Anthropic’s $30 billion funding round, establishing its first stake in the company. It also invested $1 billion in Anduril Industries, co-founded by Trae Stephens, a general partner at the firm. The fund backed financial technology companies Stripe and Ramp, the coding startup Cognition AI, and OpenAI, which Founders Fund has invested in multiple times. With seven companies funded at an average of $600 million each, each investment surpassed the total raised by most venture capital funds elsewhere.

      These investment sizes illustrate a market where top AI companies raise funds that render traditional venture capital metrics obsolete. Anthropic's $30 billion financing round shows that a $1.25 billion investment equates to approximately four percent of the company. Sequoia also joined that Anthropic round, with both firms competing against Google, Amazon, and sovereign wealth funds for investment shares. When the entry cost for a single company hits a billion dollars, a fund must be in the tens of billions to avoid competing for minor stakes.

      Founders Fund is among at least four firms that have raised substantial funds this year. Sequoia Capital secured about $7 billion in April under new leadership, Thrive Capital raised $10 billion, and Andreessen Horowitz gathered $15 billion. In the first quarter of 2026, a record $297 billion was invested in startups worldwide, marking a significant increase from the previous quarter. This capital influx is consolidating into a limited number of firms that are primarily supporting AI-focused startups.

      The driving factor behind this trend is the considerable expense associated with AI companies, which is markedly higher than previous software companies. Developing a cutting-edge model can cost hundreds of millions, and scaling the necessary infrastructure, including data centers and custom silicon, adds billions to the initial investment. Unlike software companies, which could start with minimal resources, the funding landscape has shifted towards deep technology, altering the entire industry's economics. A $500 million fund cannot feasibly write a check of $1.25 billion, but a $6 billion fund can. Venture capital has evolved from funding low-cost ideas with potentially high returns to supporting high-cost ideas with equally high potential, necessitating larger funds.

      Founders Fund’s largest and most valuable investment remains SpaceX, which filed for an unprecedented IPO in April and is expected to go public later at a valuation near $1.75 trillion. The firm, an early investor, has increased its stake across various funding rounds. A secondary market investor, Blue Owl Capital, noted a tenfold return on its SpaceX share prior to the IPO and has already sold half of its position. Anduril, valued at $30.5 billion following its June 2025 round led by Founders Fund, is reportedly seeking further investment at a substantially higher valuation. Anthropic's value has more than doubled in secondary markets since Founders Fund’s investment, exceeding $800 billion.

      If these valuations hold, the prior fund's investments demonstrate remarkable potential. A $1.25 billion position in Anthropic at a $350 billion valuation could rise beyond $2.5 billion based on current secondary market estimates. A $1 billion stake in Anduril could grow to $2 billion with new rounds. Depending on the timing and pricing of Founders Fund's investments in SpaceX, the returns could overshadow the rest of the portfolio. The concentrated strategy employed by Founders Fund, which focuses