Disruptive, a venture capital firm based in Dallas, has raised a $10bn fund to invest in AI, defence and software startups, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The new money roughly doubles the assets the firm manages.
Disruptive plans to back about 10 late-stage companies, putting around $1bn into each. Most of it will go into new funding rounds, though some will buy shares from existing investors.
The fund also changes how the firm works. Until now, Disruptive raised money deal by deal, through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that pooled its backers’ cash for a single investment. It will now run one large fund and choose where to invest itself.
Founder Alex Davis said startup bosses had grown frustrated with SPVs, which often do not reveal who is behind them. “The best companies in the world are basically picking who they want to have invest in them,” he told Bloomberg.
He also argued that big cheques are now needed, as successful companies stay private for longer.
“We can’t write small checks,” he said.
That matches the size of today’s late-stage rounds. Robotics startup Bedrock Robotics raised $600m this week, while OpenAI is reportedly raising money at a $1.25tn valuation .
Disruptive stands out among firms raising funds this large. It has only about 30 staff and is based outside the main US startup hubs. Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz have also raised multibillion-dollar funds this year.
Davis, grandson of the late oil billionaire Marvin Davis, founded the firm in 2012. Its backers include sovereign wealth funds, endowments and universities. Its portfolio includes voice AI startup ElevenLabs, data company Databricks and defence drone maker Shield AI.
Its best-known bet is Groq. Late last year, Nvidia agreed a $20bn deal to license the AI chipmaker’s technology and hire much of its staff, giving Disruptive an early return.
In a letter to its investors earlier this year, the firm said it had returned more than $6bn on about $1.9bn invested, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. Disruptive declined to comment on its returns.
Defence is a growing target for startup investors, with European companies such as Helsing also raising large sums.
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