Anthropic, OpenAI Stoke Brisk Pace of VC Fundraising

When Founders Fund earlier this year set out to raise its latest fund, a $6 billion vehicle to back mature startups like Anduril, it was the first time in the firm’s two-decade history it had asked its limited partners for more cash within two years of its prior fundraise.

The reason: It had already blown through the $4.6 billion fund it raised last year, thanks to investments in seven startups, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Ramp and Cognition, with an average check size of $600 million, according to a person familiar with the firm’s fundraising. Founders Fund wasn’t alone in picking up the pace.