00:00Kostler Ventures, one of OpenAI's early investors, is in talks to raise $5.5 billion in a new set of
00:06venture investment funds.
00:08It would make it the largest fundraising event in the firm's history, all according to sources.
00:13Bloomberg's Natasha Mascarenas broke the story. No surprise there.
00:16I find this so interesting. Vinod Kostler, a regular on the show.
00:21But I think that people may lose sight of how big a firm it was already.
00:25And this raise is very much in line with what's happening in the industry right now.
00:29I mean, if you were an early OpenAI or an anthropic backer, you probably have one of the best stories
00:35in venture fundraising right now.
00:37I mean, last month, we talked about Menlo Ventures raising its largest fund of all time.
00:41Now I'm back talking about Kostler, an early OpenAI backer, the first outside investor in OpenAI.
00:46This is $5.5 billion split across multiple funds, we think.
00:49Yeah, yeah. So in this case, they're going to keep doing and try and replicate that OpenAI early success.
00:54So they're going to be putting majority of the capital into early stage bets.
00:57And $2.5 billion is reserved for an opportunity fund, which is pretty much for the later stage investments.
01:03As round sizes get bigger and concentration becomes a more in vogue strategy for venture capitalists.
01:08You know, we do know the firm's namesake, Vinod Kostler, but there are lots of interesting people at that firm
01:13investing at different stages.
01:16Tell us a bit more about the team.
01:18Yeah, I mean, this is a team that has basically chosen to stick with an early stage focus when a
01:23lot of people are getting into a uniquely broad set of side quests as venture firms.
01:29I'm thinking of the team that has backed Sakana AI, which is building a Japanese LLM, companies that are looking
01:38at robotics and climate.
01:39So, yes, they're definitely going after the AI application layer.
01:43But when I think of Kostler Ventures, I actually think of a much more biotech focus, hard tech focus, deep
01:49tech focus.
01:50Those are areas of interest for Vinod, I'd point out as well.
01:52Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
01:54Just real quick, I would point out that a spokesperson at the firm declined to comment on our reporting.
01:58But there's another theme here, which is Kostler raised $4 billion last year.
02:02Yeah.
02:03Other firms have done that.
02:04Big funds last year, quick follow on this year.
02:07What do we need to know?
02:08I mean, these people are going through their funds at a faster than ever cadence.
02:12I mean, we think that this is almost like you're proactively raising ahead of needing to even touch the capital.
02:18So my understanding is that last year's fund is still being actively deployed.
02:22This fund we broke is being kicked off and the fundraising calls and conversations are happening right now.
02:28But it does show you how competitive and how expensive being a venture capitalist is today.
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