A model of this text first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth e-newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly information to the high-net-worth investor and client. Signal as much as obtain future editions, straight to your inbox. Blackstone billionaire David Blitzer, the primary individual to personal staff stakes in all 5 main U.S. skilled sports activities leagues, has one other feather in his cap. Final week, Blitzer’s private funding agency, Bolt Ventures, joined a consortium to purchase MotoGP staff Purple Bull KTM Tech3 for $50 million. Different funding corporations of the ultra-rich additionally made buzzy bets in January, together with Jeff Bezos ‘ namesake household workplace, which co-led a $1.4 billion fundraise for AI robotics agency SkildAI. Bezos Expedition additionally joined Emerson Collective, the funding and philanthropy agency of Laurene Powell Jobs, in a $480 million seed spherical for People & , a startup aiming to coach synthetic intelligence fashions to collaborate with people relatively than substitute them. Nonetheless, these high-profile investments apart, household workplace deal-making isn’t off to a roaring begin in 2026. In January, household workplaces made 52 direct investments in corporations, based on knowledge supplied completely to CNBC by non-public wealth platform Fintrx. The tally represents a 32% drop in offers on an annual foundation. Final 12 months’s direct funding exercise was equally subdued as corporations reined of their direct bets amid tariff uncertainty and geopolitical battle. Nonetheless, whereas household workplaces are inserting fewer bets, they’re nonetheless eager on mega-rounds, which have come to dominate the enterprise capital panorama. In 2025, half of the $339.4 billion raised went to only 0.05% of accomplished offers, per PitchBook . In different offers final month, Michael Bloomberg’s Willett Advisors and Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Household Workplace each backed a $257 million Collection D spherical for Cellares, which builds automated labs for manufacturing cell therapies. Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Horizon Ventures additionally participated in a $150 million Collection D for Alpaca, a brokerage know-how agency that counts Kraken as a shopper.
