Limited partners who fund venture firms say they are unbothered by heavy concentration in OpenAI and Anthropic, according to an interview with Beezer Clarkson of LGT Capital Partners and Amit Bhatti of TrueBridge. Clarkson said the LPs he speaks with view the bets as a potentially lucrative gamble, but describe the situation as a "yellow light."
Bhatti said venture has always been a power law business, so concentration in a few winners is typical as funds age. He said funds that are 10 or more years old are consolidating into a few names, and he cited Databricks, SpaceX and Stripe. He said what is different now is the speed. He also said that seed round sizes have roughly doubled, which pushes managers to write larger checks to lead.
Both executives said venture funds are returning to market faster. Clarkson said some funds are now coming back on one-year pacing, compared with a norm of about two to two and a half years. Bhatti said 24 to 36 months was roughly normal for him, and that 12 to 18 months is now not unusual for some funds. Bhatti said some managers are raising larger funds mid-cycle, which he called unusual. He said the pace "gives us a little bit of heartburn."
Clarkson said one-year vintages are typically harder to get right, though he added that the outcome is not yet known. Bhatti said some recent companies are reaching $100 million in revenue quickly, a pattern he described as unheard of before.
On whether LPs would stay with a manager that returns early, both said they would more likely reduce their check size than walk away entirely. Bhatti said his firm maintains a calendar of expected commitments, and Clarkson said LPs must account for their own pacing when managers accelerate.