Sabertooth Capital deploys $500M into Anthropic, SpaceX via SPVs without VC fund

Justin Ernest, a Harvard Business School graduate and former Playground Global investor, spotted a gap: family offices couldn't access late-stage AI startups. Instead of launching a formal VC fund (which takes 12–18 months), he used his network to secure allocations in official funding rounds. He then offers those shares to about 30 smaller institutional investors via SPVs, single-asset funds, and nominee structures. Sabertooth Capital holds shares on behalf of participants, ensuring compliance and trust. Ernest's deep technical knowledge and personal vetting by companies like PsiQuantum (whose CFO directed a family office to invest through Sabertooth) gave him instant credibility.

Over the past 12 months, Sabertooth deployed nearly $500M into 10 companies: Anthropic, Anduril, Base Power, Databricks, PsiQuantum, SpaceX, and others. Checks range from $10M to $275M. The firm already saw a major return from Groq, which Nvidia acqui-hired for $20B. Next up: SpaceX's anticipated IPO and Anthropic's public listing. Ernest aims to eventually raise a traditional VC fund, using these SPV returns to prove his track record. His ability to raise capital quickly from a captive LP base—just a few phone calls—demonstrates the power of a trusted network in the otherwise opaque world of secondary allocations.