Lightspeed proposes to raise $600 million for the Sub-Standard Fund, plus investment in OpenAI and Anthropic

On 12 August, according to Bloomberg, Lightseed Venture Partners is seeking to raise approximately $600 million through a secondary deal to extend their investment exposure to OpenAI and other artificial intelligence companies and to invest additionally in AI Model Anthropic. According to informed sources, Lightspeed, the internal code for this fund-raising transaction, Project Mercury, involved several second-tier funds under the flag of Lightspeed, including the Select V Fund, the Opportunity II Fund and part of an independent management account, wanted to provide liquidity to investors through secondary market transactions, while maintaining long-term ownership of the AI field head company。