Peter Thiel-founded Valar Ventures raised a $300 million fund, half the size of its last one

The perception in Silicon Valley is that every investor would love to be in business with Peter Thiel. But the venture capital fundraising environment has become so difficult that even Valar Ventures, one of the VC firms he helped found, has raised a much smaller fund this year compared to previous ones. Thiel set up Valar in 2010 and appointed Andrew McCormack and James Fitzgerald to run it. Both previously worked at his family office (Thiel Capital) and at Clarium Capital Management, the now-defunct hedge fund Thiel founded. It’s not clear how much involvement Thiel has in Valar these days. His name hasn’t been listed on the firm’s website among the team’s partners in many years. The New York-based firm has successfully raised a $300 million Valar Fund IX, according to a May 17 SEC filing. While that’s a decently sized fund, it is less than half of the predecessor, which closed on $665 million in July 2022. Valar raised over $863 million in late 2021 for its fund VII, according to SEC filings. Valar isn’t the only firm to target less money for its latest fund amid a tougher fundraising climate for venture funds — regardless of the notable names attached to them. Tiger Global raised 63% less than its original target in its latest fundraise. Insight Partners also reduced its fundraising target last year. And Founders Fund, arguably Thiel’s most prestigious VC firm, slashed the target of its eighth venture capital fund in half in 2023, from around $1.8 billion to around $900 million, although it reportedly did so for strategic reasons, rather than in response to the fundraising environment (and it also simultaneously did raise a $3.4 billion second growth fund, Axios reported).