How Justin Ernest invested nearly $500M into hot startups without a traditional VC fund

Justin Ernest did not want to wait a year to build a traditional venture fund. Instead, the founder of Sabertooth VC skipped the typical fundraising cycle to move nearly $500 million into the market at record speed.

He relied on a captive network of limited partners to fund deals on a case-by-case basis. This strategy allowed him to secure positions in massive companies like Anthropic, Anduril, and SpaceX while other firms were still filling out their paperwork.

Raising a formal venture fund is usually a slow and grueling process. It can take over twelve months to finalize, but Sabertooth operated more like a high-speed syndicate to stay ahead of the curve.

This approach is particularly relevant given his investment in Anthropic. Getting into competitive AI rounds requires speed and deep connections, showing that the way capital flows into this industry is changing as fast as the models themselves.

For those of us using AI tools in our daily work, this shift is a signal of how concentrated the industry is becoming. Huge amounts of money are being funneled into a few core players who are building the foundations of the next tech era.

It proves that the old guard of finance is being challenged. To back the fastest-moving companies in history, investors are realizing they have to move just as quickly.