8VC has closed its seventh flagship fund at $1.5 billion, the largest in the firm's history. Fund 7 follows the $998M Fund VI, which closed in March 2025, and the $880M Fund V from 2023, making this 8VC's third fund in four years and bringing total assets under management past $6 billion.
The Austin-based firm, founded in 2015 by Joe Lonsdale, Drew Oetting, and Alex Kolicich, has now backed or built more than 150 companies since inception.
The Thesis: The American AI Industrial Revolution
Fund 7 is built around what Lonsdale calls the "American AI Industrial Revolution", a thesis centered on AI, defense, advanced manufacturing, healthcare and life sciences, enterprise software, and frontier infrastructure.
The through-line is companies that rebuild American industrial and defense capability and increase national productivity.
The timing tracks with the defining VC theme of 2026. Defense startups have already raised more than $14.6 billion this year, blowing past 2025's full-year record of $9.6 billion within the first five months.
Anduril's $5B Series H, Shield AI's $2B Series G, and Saronic's $1.75B raise headline the surge, and generalist funds are increasingly raising with defense at the core of the thesis. Fund 7 fits that pattern squarely.
Notably, Saronic came out of 8VC's own venture studio.
The Build Program
8VC typically reserves 25–30% of its capital for the Build Program, its internal venture studio that co-founds companies from scratch instead of waiting for founders to walk through the door.
The model: 8VC spends 12–18 months assembling the team, validating the concept, and securing initial customers before the company launches, meaning Build companies start with capital, talent, and early traction already in place. The program pairs domain experts, operators, and veterans with 8VC's network and balance sheet.
The Build Program has created 28+ companies to date, including Saronic (autonomous naval vessels), Epirus (counter-drone directed energy), Affinity (relationship intelligence), and Resilience (biomanufacturing).
For operators with deep industry knowledge but no co-founder, this is one of the few billion-dollar funds where a meaningful share of the vehicle is dedicated to starting companies with you rather than just backing them.
The Team
The partners have built the kind of companies they now fund. Lonsdale co-founded Palantir (Nasdaq: PLTR), Addepar, and OpenGov, and was an early investor in Anduril, Oculus, Guardant Health, and Joby Aviation.
Oetting is known for backing Deliverr (acquired by Shopify) and Quince. Kolicich is a Founding Partner, and Alex Moore leads the firm's defense vertical, including its international defense portfolio and Terra Industries, Africa's first modern defense prime.
Track Record
8VC's portfolio includes Anduril, Palantir, Flexport, Joby Aviation, Guardant Health, Oculus, Asana, and Addepar.
Exits include the Palantir, Guardant Health, Oscar Health, Joby Aviation, and Blend IPOs, plus OpenGov's $1.8B acquisition by Cox Enterprises, Oculus's sale to Facebook, and Deliverr's acquisition by Shopify.
Fund 7 at a Glance
- Fund size: $1.5B (largest to date, up from $998M for Fund VI)
- Total AUM: $6B+
- Companies backed or built: 150+ since 2015
- Build Program: typically 25–30% of capital; 28+ companies created
- Check size: $500K–$50M
- Stage focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Sectors: AI, defense tech, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, life sciences, enterprise software, frontier infrastructure
- Regions: North America, Europe, Israel, Africa
- HQ: Austin, TX
What This Means for Founders
If you're building in defense, AI infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, or bio, 8VC is deploying its largest pool of capital yet, with checks from $500K to $50M across seed through Series B. And if you're a domain expert, operator, or veteran with a thesis but no company yet, the Build Program is explicitly designed to co-found one with you.
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