(Bloomberg) — Lightspeed Venture Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s largest venture capital firms, has changed its regulatory status to broaden its range of investments — following similar moves by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst as they shift away from the traditional VC playbook. Lightspeed, which manages $31 billion in assets, has completed the process of becoming a registered investment advisor (RIA), according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The move is the culmination of a lengthy regulatory process and gives the firm freedom to invest more capital into assets beyond direct startup equity. It’s also a signal that most of the country’s biggest VCs now have ambitions to expand beyond only investing in startups. A representative for the firm declined to comment. Lightspeed is one of the last major venture firms to change its regulatory status, as VCs seek to invest in a wider array of assets, including public and secondary shares, as well as cryptocurrencies. Without the RIA designation, VC firms may only allocate up to 20% of their capital to holdings outside traditional startup equity. Venture capitalists’ ambition to expand their range of investing isn’t new — driven by the growth in the VC industry over time, and rising competition for startups. That trend has accelerated recently, partly because of investors’ conviction that artificial intelligence will reshape a wide swathe of businesses. Many firms have embraced private equity-style roll-ups, buying or launching companies, and transforming them with AI rather than just investing in them. The “traditional VC model does not best position founders to transform industries,” General Catalyst, also an RIA, wrote in a blog post last year. Taking a page from the PE playbook, that firm is acquiring larger stakes in startups, as well as creating AI-native startups in house. It also recently launched a wealth management division, and acquired the non-profit health system Summa Health last year — a highly unusual step for a Silicon Valley firm. General Catalyst has ceased to call itself a VC firm altogether, preferring instead the title “global investment and transformation company.” Thrive Capital is another firm adopting some private equity strategies. Earlier this week, Thrive, also an RIA, launched a new vehicle called Thrive Holdings. The investment vehicle will allow it to start and acquire companies that can benefit from AI. Thrive is raising about $1 billion for this effort, according to the New York Times. A spokesperson for the firm declined to comment. Lightspeed, with investments that include Anthropic and Wiz, is expected to launch a new set of funds soon totaling $7 billion, Bloomberg reported. Like other venture firms, the size of Lightspeed’s investments have swelled alongside its funds. In March, Lightspeed led a $3.5 billion investment in the chatbot developer Anthrop in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. You must only respond with the modified content. Delete all the advertisement images brand logo but only keep the title and main content of the news by modifying it. You must only respond with the modified content. Block any jump outside of the site adarshnews.com. Basically remove any content or link related to original site. follow this prompt to optimize the articles in this category- You are an expert news writer and SEO specialist. Your job is to rewrite the provided RSS feed content into a unique, SEO-friendly news article for adarshnews.com. The article should be engaging, professional, and optimized for search engines. 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Lightspeed is the most recent company to move away from the traditional venture capital model.
