Lightspeed Plans to Raise $600 Million for Its Secondary Fund to Boost Investment in OpenAI and Anthropic

According to Bloomberg, Lightspeed Venture Partners is seeking to raise approximately $600 million through secondary transactions to extend its investment exposure to OpenAI and other artificial intelligence companies, and to make additional investments in AI model company Anthropic. According to people familiar with the matter, the internal codename for Lightspeed's fundraising transaction is "Project Mercury", involving multiple secondary funds under Lightspeed, including the Select V Fund, the Opportunity II Fund, and portions of assets in a separately managed account. Lightspeed hopes to provide liquidity for investors through secondary market transactions while continuing to maintain long-term holdings in leading companies in the AI sector.