137 Ventures raises $700M across two funds as SpaceX IPO looms
What's the deal? 137 Ventures, the San Francisco-based growth-stage venture firm, has raised more than $700M across two new funds, bringing total assets under management to more than $15B. The capital is split between a primary investments and tender fund, and a separate fund for founders and employees of startups backed by the firm.
Founded in 2010 by Justin Fishner-WolfsonDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Alexander JacobsonDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, 137 Ventures backs technology companies across their entire private growth lifecycle — from growth rounds through to pre-IPO.
Its portfolio includes SpaceX, AndurilDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Ramp, and Gusto. Over the past 12 months, the firm deployed more than $1.7B, with recent investments including Cognition, Impulse Space, Hadrian, and Physical Intelligence — companies at the frontier of AI, defence, and advanced manufacturing.
Why now? The private market lifecycle for leading technology companies has lengthened significantly. Companies that once went public within five to seven years of founding are now staying private for 15 years or more, as founders and early investors delay liquidity events and access ever-larger private capital pools. SpaceX, one of 137's flagship holdings, is itself preparing for an IPO that would value it at a reported $1 trillion — a listing that would represent a major liquidity event for the firm.
The two-fund structure reflects a growing recognition that at the scale 137 operates, serving the people building its portfolio companies — not just the companies themselves — has become a core part of the platform
What could go wrong? 137 Ventures' portfolio is heavily concentrated in a small number of large, high-profile private companies. If SpaceX's IPO is delayed or disappoints, or if the broader AI valuation environment contracts, the mark-to-market impact on the fund's portfolio could be significant. At $15B in AUM, 137 is also operating at a scale where deal selection becomes harder and the law of large numbers starts to constrain returns.
The firm's focus on longer private lifecycles is a double-edged strategy. It captures more of the value creation cycle — but also exposes LPs to longer lock-up periods and greater uncertainty about exit timing in a market where IPO windows remain unpredictable.
The signal: 137 Ventures' raise is a signal that the secondary and growth-stage markets for elite private companies remain robustly funded, even as early-stage deal volume has been more volatile. The firm's ability to raise $700M — its ninth institutional fundraise — on the back of a portfolio anchored by SpaceX reflects the premium investors are willing to pay for access to a small number of the most consequential private technology companies in the world.
The longer private company lifecycle is also reshaping how growth-stage firms think about their platform. Staying alongside a company for 15 years requires more than capital — it requires building relationships with the people inside those companies across multiple stages of their careers. 137's second fund reflects that thinking.
Sources:
PR Newswire
Bloomberg
Image credit:
137 Ventures
J.V.
