Lightspeed's continuation fund: seller and buyer in one

This article was published on August 14, 2026 Lightspeed wants about $600m to move its OpenAI stake and four others into a continuation fund, and to add Anthropic. It is the seller, and it will manage the buyer. Venture has imported private equity's most argued-about structure. The firm calls the deal Project Mercury, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with it. It gathers assets from two Lightspeed funds, Select V and Opportunity II, plus a separately managed account. OpenAI is the anchor. Coller Capital is the lead buyer. UBS is advising. Lightspeed did not reply to Bloomberg’s messages and Coller declined to comment. The mechanics matter more than the number, so here they are without jargon. A venture fund has a life, usually about ten years, and at the end it must sell what it holds and hand back the cash. A continuation fund breaks that clock. The manager moves chosen holdings into a new vehicle, a buyer funds it, the original investors get their money, and the firm keeps the position. Investors in the old fund can take the cash or roll into the new one. That choice is the product. The problem it solves is real. Companies now stay private far longer than a decade, so th