Paradigm closes $1.2B fund for AI and robotics

Paradigm closed a $1.2 billion venture fund on July 8, 2026 to back companies in artificial intelligence and robotics. The firm said the new vehicle is its third venture fund and shifts more capital toward AI and autonomous systems while keeping its crypto expertise available.

Paradigm was founded in 2018 by Matt Huang and Fred Ehrsam. The firm manages roughly $12.7 billion across its funds. Its 2021 vehicle raised $2.5 billion and a 2024 fund raised $850 million for early-stage blockchain projects.

Paradigm has taken steps toward AI investing in recent years. In 2023 the firm removed crypto-specific language from its website and began discussing AI publicly. It backed Nous Research in a roughly $50 million round in 2024 or 2025. In February 2026 Paradigm worked with an AI partner to launch EVMbench, a benchmark that tests AI agents on finding and patching smart contract vulnerabilities.

Capital from the new $1.2 billion fund has already been deployed in non-crypto companies. Paradigm invested in Zipline’s Series H in March 2026; Zipline operates autonomous drones for delivery of physical goods. The fund also joined a Series D for True Anomaly in April 2026; True Anomaly develops systems to track and defend orbital assets.

Paradigm continues to back crypto projects alongside its AI and robotics bets. In June 2026 the firm co-led a $175 million round for Morpho, a decentralized lending protocol. In July 2026 it led a seed round for M1X Global, which is building infrastructure for tokenized U.S. Treasuries. The firm also holds positions in prediction market and payments companies such as Kalshi.

The firm is not building a separate AI team. Paradigm will use its existing technical staff to evaluate AI and robotics deals and keep crypto engineering experience available for projects that combine AI and blockchain technologies.

Paradigm has not released detailed information about limited partners or specific deployment targets for the new fund. The firm closed the vehicle as AI startups attracted the bulk of global venture dollars this year while crypto deal counts declined and rounds concentrated in fewer, larger financings.