Solo Venture Capitalists Go Big

Solo venture capitalists, a growing breed of individual tech investors who compete with traditional Silicon Valley venture capital firms, are raising bigger funds, writing larger checks and beefing up staff even as worsening macroeconomic conditions push down startup valuations and force cost cutting.

Lachy Groom, a former Stripe product leader who now operates as a solo venture capitalist, recently raised his biggest ever fund, of about $500 million, to back mature startups, according to a source familiar with the matter. Joshua Buckley, who previously co-founded a mobile game studio, is almost done raising $500 million for his third and largest solo venture fund and has already started investing out of the fund, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Their moves mirror the increasing size of funds raised in recent months by major VC firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

In addition, Bling Capital, an investment fund founded in 2018 by former Khosla Ventures partner Ben Ling, has raised nearly $200 million for two new funds, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, and has added a second general partner.