National security-focused Razor’s Edge raises $340m

Razor’s Edge Ventures, a national security-focused technology venture capital firm, has closed its third fund at $340 million, more than double the size of its previous fund.

The firm, based in based in Reston, Virginia, set out to raise $350 million last December, according to an SEC filing.

Founded in 2010, Razor’s Edge raised $55 million for its debut fund in 2012 and about $159 million for Fund II in 2018, according to PitchBook.

According to the regulatory filing, the general partner’s managing partners are Peggy Styer, Steve Pann, Richard Moxley, Mark Spoto and Jack Kerrigan. All are co-founders of the firm.

Co-founder Rob Painter, who was a managing partner of Fund II, left Razor’s Edge in March 2020 and is now chief operating officer of I2pure Corp, a biotechnology start-up, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Razor’s Edge invests in autonomous systems, aerospace technologies, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence/machine learning, digital signal processing and defense technology.

“Our third fund will continue the approach we have successfully applied since the beginning,” Styer said in a statement. “The US faces an increasingly complex and rapidly growing national security threat environment.”

The firm did not disclose the names of investors in Fund III. Spoto said of Razor Edge’s LPs: “We have a fantastic group of new and long-standing investors and want to thank them for their commitment to Razor’s Edge. The fact that this fund significantly exceeded our initial target speaks to the trust our investors have in the team and the enthusiasm they have in our ability to deliver venture capital returns while leveraging our operating experience to hedge against risk.”