Hedge fund D.E. Shaw is targeting $1 billion for its second Voltaic venture and growth equity fund, more than double the size of its predecessor, according to people familiar with the matter.
The new fund would give D.E. Shaw significantly more firepower to deploy capital in the AI boom, following investments into Anthropic and OpenAI earlier this year.
The firm had expected to raise at least $500 million for a first close of D.E. Shaw Voltaic Fund II early this fall, the people said.
More than half of Voltaic II is expected to go into later-stage private companies, the people said. The fund is pursuing a mid- to late-stage, pre-IPO strategy focused on technology, data and adjacent sectors.
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A $1 billion fund would be a significant step-up from its predecessor. Voltaic Fund I closed in early 2023 with more than $450 million in commitments, just shy of a reported $500 million goal.
D.E. Shaw declined to comment.
The New York-headquartered hedge fund, best known for its quantitative and discretionary trading strategies, launched Voltaic Fund I in 2022 as its first standalone fund dedicated to private equity, venture and growth investments. However, the firm has backed private companies through its hedge funds since the 1990s.
The closed-end fund was set to invest primarily in privately held companies at the post-seed and growth-equity stages, according to Edwin Jager, a managing director who oversees the fundamental equities strategy at D.E. Shaw and was named portfolio manager of the first fund.
The successor comes to market as the firm’s venture arm, D.E. Shaw Ventures, has participated in some of the largest private financings of the AI boom. It co-led Anthropic’s $30 billion Series G in February, which valued the AI developer at $380 billion. A month later, it co-led OpenAI’s $122 billion round at an $852 billion valuation.
The firm also joined Ramp‘s $750 million Series F in June, which valued the spend-management company at $44 billion, and backed cybersecurity company ThreatLocker again in a $190 million Series F in July.
Voltaic II surfaced in an Aug. 4 regulatory filing. The international vehicle was classified as a private equity fund and listed a $1 million minimum investment.
D.E. Shaw had more than $115 billion in investment and committed capital as of Sept. 1, according to its website.
This article originally appeared on PitchBook News
