Philip Clark of Thrive Capital is promoted as a partner

This is a question that we all heard as children, and our answers were often revealing. The response of a child – be it the firefighter, the astronaut or, in my case, the paleontologist – did something on his instinct and his future imagined.

Many children dream of space and fire trucks, but Philip Clark had a distinct set of ambitions: he wanted to be a physicist and CEO of Lockheed Martin.

“Oh, I loved the SR-71 (now retired from Lockheed Recon) when I was a child,” said Clark. “I remember that my parents put me in a preschool interview, and I was talking to the people of the F-16 aerodynamics. I do not know how much I really understood at the time, but I was talking about it definitively in the interviews in construction blocks with the preschool and kindergarten directors.

Today, Clark may not be the CEO of Lockheed Martin (although he is only 28 years old, so he still has time), but he found another road to the defense – in 2022, Clark began working on Thrive Capital’s investment in the Juggernaut of defense technology and estimated this summer for the last time at 30.5 billion dollars. Since he joined Thrive de 8VC in 2022, Clark has also worked on business investments in Openai, Cursor, Wiz, Nudge and Physical Intelligence. Now Clark has been promoted in partnership at Thrive, Fortune has learned exclusively.

“There are not many companies that end up the importance in world history,” he said Fortune. “I often talk about the extraterrestrial test: if the extraterrestrials had to go down to earth and ask how the world works, which companies appear in your description of the world? … The Thrive test, for the companies in which we invest, is that we must believe that they will appear on this list.”

Thrive, started in 2011 with Joshua Kushner (profiled in Fortune Last year), became known for its large swings – Big even among VCs, such as the doubling of Openai in the largest private technology agreement of all time.

“I often think of the word” counterfeiting “during investment,” said Clark. “There are two types of counterfeiting that are really important when I associate myself with someone. Test A: If this company or this idea did not exist, the world would be the same or different? And I don’t think so. Company?

Clark was at the center of the Boom of the AI ​​- jump to help hire the cursor after Thrive’s investment in 2024 and work on the company’s Openai agreement – and he does not think there is an AI bubble.

“People are far too narrow in the way they think of the impact of AI on the world,” he said. “There is a lot of automation of knowledge work, but we are too much talking about the fact that it fundamentally unlocks new ways of manipulating atoms in the physical world … You can really create quick, manufactured, easily configurable, very personalized, precious and physical solutions to many problems.”

That said, there are, of course, nuances.

“Things can be simultaneous,” said Clark. “Many less strong companies can be funded as the most important companies in the world are created. I do not think that we are in a bubble of the Dotcom era at the moment, but it was true that the most important companies of the Internet have been created – Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc. be an important and wild trip.

You have an update … Anthropic announced yesterday that it had raised $ 13 billion to an evaluation of $ 183 billion, with investors including Iconiq, Fidelity and Lightspeed. Elsewhere, Openai announced its intention to acquire Statsig for $ 1.1 billion in an All-Stock agreement. In May, we had the exclusivity on the last round of financing from Statsig, which was led to the same assessment for which it was acquired.

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @Agarfinks
E-mail: Alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Business affairs

– AnthropicAn AI model developer based in San Francisco, has raised $ 13 billion in Funding in Series F. Icons,, Loyalty Management and research company,, And Lightspeed Venture Partners led the tour and were joined by Altimeter,, Baillie Giffordaffiliates of Blackrock,, Black,, Sleeveand others.

– HappyrobotA developer based in San Francisco of workers of the AI ​​personalized company, raised $ 44 million in series B financing. Base10 Partners led the tour and was joined by existing investors A16Z And Y Combiner and others.

– KiteA developer of digital infrastructure based in San Francisco for AI agents, has raised $ 18 million in series A series. Paypal Adventures And General Catalyst led the tour and were joined by 8VC,, Next Samsung,, Ancient Adventures,, Sbi WE Door Funds,, Summit Adventures,, Dispersion Capital,, Avalanche Foundation,, Gsr Markets,, Paletteand others.

– MerokaA New York-based platform designed to help independent doctors transmit ownership of their practices to their employees, has collected $ 6 million in seed financing. Better Tomorrow Ventures And Slow ventures led the tour and were joined by 8VC and others.

Investment capital

– Bradforda portfolio company Distinct Capitalacquired Solo LaboratoriesA developer, a formator and a manufacturer of liquid and aerosol personal care products. The financial conditions have not been disclosed.

– Bregal Sagemount has acquired majority participation in Spark MembershipA provider of management of Tampa members, Florida, the management of members and the payment software integrated into martial arts studios. The financial conditions have not been disclosed.