Lux Capital lands $1.5B for its largest fund ever

Lux Capital, a 25-year-old VC firm known for its investments in frontier science and defense technology, has closed a $1.5 billion ninth fund, the largest fund in the firm’s history.

Despite 2025 marking a 10-year low for the number of new VC funds raised in the U.S., according to PitchBook, it’s not hard to see why limited partners are still piling into Lux.

The firm has been investing in defense technologies for years before geopolitical shifts turned the sector into one of the most desirable investment categories. Lux was a seed-stage investor in Anduril, which was last valued at $30.5 billion, and Applied Intuition, an autonomous vehicle startup that secured contracts with the Pentagon and was valued at $15 billion last year.

Lux has also made early bets on AI startups before the industry took off, post-ChatGPT. The firm’s early-stage AI investments include Hugging Face, Runway AI, and MosaicML, the latter of which was acquired by Databricks for $1.3 billion in 2023.

In addition to being early to the defense tech and AI trends, Lux has realized significant exits from its investment in AI drug discovery company Recursion Pharmaceuticals, which went public in 2021, and the sale of Auris Health, a surgical robotics pioneer that sold to Johnson & Johnson for up to $6 billion in 2019.

The latest fundraise brings Lux’s assets under management to $7 billion.

Techcrunch event

Disrupt 2026 Tickets: One-time offer

Tickets are live! Save up to $680 while these rates last, and be among the first 500 registrants to get 50% off your +1 pass. TechCrunch Disrupt brings top leaders from Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, a16z, Hugging Face, and more to 250+ sessions designed to fuel growth and sharpen your edge. Connect with hundreds of innovative startups and join curated networking that drives deals, insights, and inspiration.

Disrupt 2026 Tickets: One-time offer

San Francisco

October 13-15, 2026