Venture capital firm Lux Capital has successfully raised $1.5 billion for its ninth fund, marking the largest fundraising round in the firm’s more than 20-year history. The fund plans to increase its investments in breakthrough science and national security. Since its founding in New York in 2000 with a focus on healthcare, energy, and aerospace, Lux has expanded its operations to Silicon Valley, making early-stage investments in artificial intelligence, aerospace and defense, robotics, autonomous technologies, and biology. The latest fund focuses on frontier technologies, defined as startups pursuing breakthroughs in physics, computing, and life sciences. Bill Conway, co-founder of the Carlyle Group and a long-time supporter of Lux, said he was impressed by the venture capital firm’s partners’ foresight. For example, they were among the first to identify nanotechnology as a promising investment area in the early 2000s.