If you've ever wanted to invest in the companies that are basically speedrunning the future, you're too late. 137 Ventures got there first - and they just raised over $700 million to double down on that exact bet.
The Silicon Valley VC firm, which counts SpaceX, defense tech darling Anduril, and precision manufacturing startup Hadrian among its portfolio companies, has closed two new growth-stage funds, according to TechCrunch. Seven hundred million dollars. With a capital M. That's a lot of zeros riding on the idea that the companies reshaping aerospace, defense, and manufacturing are still just getting warmed up.
Growth-stage: the awkward teenager of venture capital
Here's the thing about growth-stage investing that doesn't get enough airtime. It's not the glamorous "we believed in you when you were two people in a garage" seed stuff. And it's not the boring institutional late-stage rubber-stamping either. Growth-stage is where you bet on companies that have already proved they're real - but haven't yet become the unkillable corporate monoliths they're probably destined to be.
It's a very specific skill set, and 137 Ventures has clearly decided it's their lane. Given that SpaceX is currently worth somewhere in the "absurd" range, it's hard to argue with their taste.
The portfolio is basically a mood board for techno-optimists
SpaceX needs no introduction - it's the company that made rocket reusability boring in the best possible way. Anduril is the defense tech firm co-founded by Palmer Luckey that's been on a mission to modernize military hardware with autonomous systems. And Hadrian is quietly building the infrastructure to actually manufacture all the ambitious things companies like these design.
In other words, 137 Ventures isn't just betting on rockets or software or gadgets. They're betting on the full stack of American industrial ambition. Which is either visionary or extremely on-the-nose depending on your political read of the current moment.
What $700 million actually signals
Beyond the headline number, a raise this size says something pretty loud about investor appetite right now. The market for growth-stage capital in deep tech and defense-adjacent startups is clearly not cooling off. If anything, the people with serious money are getting more comfortable writing bigger checks for companies operating in spaces that would've seemed niche - or genuinely weird - a decade ago.
Private space travel and autonomous weapons systems as mainstream VC bets. What a time to be alive, honestly.
