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Lead
Lux Capital is a venture capital firm based in New York City. It was founded in 2000, and focuses on investments in emerging technologies.[26][27][28][29][29]Lux Capital has 8 core funds and has invested in over 200 companies.[7][2] To date, the firm has over $5 billion in total assets under management.[8]
History
Lux Capital was founded in 2000 by Peter Hébert, Robert Paull and Josh Wolfe.[30] In April 2011, former McKinsey Senior Partner Richard N. Foster and former CIA Director James Woolsey joined the organisation in senior management roles.[31] In August 2012, former Pfizer head Jeff Kindler joined the organisation in similar capacities.[32] The company’s first outside investor was The Carlyle Group co-founder, Bill Conway.[2]
The organisation had raised approximately $1 billion in investment funds by August 2019. By June 2021, it had raised approximately $1.5 billion in investment funds.[33][34]
In 2008, Lux Capital recruited a team of scientists to develop new ways of cleaning up nuclear waste, forming the company Kurion, which aided in the cleanup of the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011. In 2016, Kurion was acquired by Veolia, French nuclear cleanup specialist, for $350 million.[35]
In 2017, Lux Capital invested in Anduril Industries, which has drawn scrutiny for selling its products to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.[36][37]
Retired 4-star General and former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Tony Thomas joined the firm as a Venture Partner in 2020.[6]
In 2023, Lux Capital raised its eighth core fund, with $1.15 billion in committed capital.[7] The fund invests in early-stage deep technology companies at the nexus of technologies including life sciences, defense, manufacturing, aerospace, and artificial intelligence.[8][6] This brought the company’s total assets under management to over $5 billion.[8] To date, Lux has invested in over 200 companies.[2]
In 2024, the company developed an initiative called Riskgaming, assembling a group of leaders and proposing complex problems for them to solve, such as AI based election threats, ethical trade dilemmas, and national disasters.[38][39]
Neuroscientist Thomas Reardon joined Lux as a venture partner in 2024,[40][41] followed by American diplomat Brett McGurk in 2025.[42]
The firm has created more than 20 new companies since its founding, formalizing this process in 2024 as Lux Labs, a platform and strategy to bring scientific ideas from labs into the real-world.[43] In May of 2025, Lux Capital developed the Lux Helpline to support the academic research of scientists who are facing funding cuts.[44]
Criticism
Lux has been criticized recently for its investment in autonomous weapons.[45]
Offensive Military Technology
Lux Capital's investment in Anduril Industries, a defense technology company specializing in autonomous weapons systems, has drawn criticism.[citation needed] Anduril's product lineup includes unmanned aerial systems, robotic submarines, and counter-drone technologies, which have been deployed in military operations and border surveillance.[46]
Critics argue that Lux's backing of Anduril aligns the firm with a company whose products have been associated with controversial applications, such as surveillance along the U.S.-Mexico border.[47] This association has led to concerns about the ethical implications of investing in companies whose technologies may be used in contentious or militarized contexts.[45][48]
Portfolio companies
* 3Scan[49]
No longer operating:
AI and Tech
* Cognition AI[78]
* Hugging Face[17]
* Runway[79]
Defense, Space and Manufacturing
* Applied Intuition[80]
* Anduril[17]
* Hadrian[81]
* Impulse Space[82]
Biotech and Healthcare
* Aera Therapeutics[83]
* Benchling[84]
* eGenesis[85]
* Eikon Therapeutics[86]
 Go ahead: I have reviewed these proposed changes and suggest that you go ahead and make the proposed changes to the page. Fiske (talk) 17:34, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
Requested edits
@NazLux: This was hard to follow with the nested requests, some approved and some declined. I went through and implemented what I thought was notable and well sourced. I left out some borderline info, including the hiring announcement sourced with a press release, and the risk games info, which didn't seem encyclopedic. The source says nothing about Lux founding the nuclear energy company - only that they funded it, so I revised the text accordingly. Also, the lead is supposed to summarize what's already in the article, and doesn't need sources. The info you requested to add to the lead is not in the body. If you want to revise, and use my format User:STEMinfo/COI edit requests, which is clearer, ping me and I'll review. If you are proposing large changes, you're better off using your sandbox and linking to it, to keep the talk page from getting too jumbled. STEMinfo (talk) 21:30, 29 March 2026 (UTC)
- Thanks, STEMinfo. I really appreciate the care you took in updating the page. NazLux (talk) 14:31, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
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