Sabertooth VC Places Nearly $400M Into 10 Late-Stage Tech Companies via SPVs

Justin Ernest’s firm Sabertooth VC placed nearly $400 million into ten companies over the last twelve months through a series of single-deal vehicles. The investments included Anthropic, Anduril, Databricks, PsiQuantum and SpaceX. Each transaction was structured as a separate SPV that participated only in official, company-approved rounds.

Ernest writes checks between $10 million and $275 million and maintains a roster of roughly thirty smaller institutional investors. Benjamin Wagner, chief investment officer for a family office overseeing the assets of fifty individuals, said the firm’s technical approach sets it apart. “Justin is authentically an investor,” Wagner said.

Wagner first encountered Sabertooth when PsiQuantum’s chief financial officer suggested he route an investment through the firm. PsiQuantum was last valued at $7 billion. Wagner said the introduction confirmed Ernest’s standing with the companies themselves.

Ernest spent more than five years at Playground Global before launching Sabertooth. A Harvard Business School graduate, he said his network allows him to secure commitments quickly. “I have a captive set of LPs,” he said.

One early outcome came from chipmaker Groq, which Nvidia licensed and acqui-hired for $20 billion late last year. SpaceX is scheduled to hold its initial public offering this Friday, and Anthropic is expected to list later this year. Ernest said he intends to keep raising capital for individual companies while he prepares to launch a traditional venture fund.

“I wanted to be in the action,” he said.