Paradigm raises $1.2B fund to bet on AI, robotics
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- Paradigm raised $1.2 billion in its third venture fund (fourth fund overall), announced Wednesday by founder Matt Huang, to invest in what the firm calls the 'technical frontier.'
- The fund will stretch beyond Paradigm's crypto roots into AI and robotics—sectors managing partner Alana Palmedo told Bloomberg are 'pretty hard to ignore' right now.
- Paradigm won't abandon crypto, according to a blog post by Huang and Palmedo, and will keep investing across blockchain tools (Foundry, Reth), agent tools (Centaur), and security work (EVMbench, a collaboration with OpenAI).
- Fund III has already deployed capital into drone delivery company Zipline and space startup True Anomaly, hinting at where the robotics-and-frontier thesis is landing first.
- The $1.2 billion close came in below the $1.5 billion target the Wall Street Journal reported in February the firm was seeking to raise, per prior SEC filings.
- Paradigm was founded in 2018 by Huang, a former Sequoia partner, and Fred Ehrsam, who co-founded Coinbase.
- TechMeme highlights that Paradigm ended 2025 with $11.9 billion in AUM, per Bloomberg, underscoring the scale of the firm now diversifying beyond its crypto origins.
Why it matters: A crypto-native powerhouse with nearly $12 billion in AUM is formally broadening its mandate—a notable signal that even the largest crypto funds see more momentum outside crypto than inside it. The $1.2B close landing $300M short of the $1.5B February target suggests LPs want to see that AI-and-robotics thesis validated, not just endorsed, before they commit more.
