Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness seeks to raise capital after AI rout

Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness seeks to raise capital after AI rout

\+439% through June 2026, then got hit hard in July sell-off. It's now been talking to existing investors and lenders about fresh capital, and has offered some LPs the chance to buy assets out of the portfolio.

One source called the outreach ad hoc rather than a coordinated raise. The fund used leverage (multiple bulge-bracket prime brokers) to amplify the AI trade, which is what turns a drawdown into a scramble.

Aschenbrenner's July 24th investor letter conceded the fund wasn't immune — Asia especially — but pitched the selloff as the best entry since early 2025, with an August 1 window to add cash and a potential Anthropic IPO as a second-half catalyst. Named damage: Oracle and AMD each \~-20% on the month, with Nebius, Sharon AI, Bloom Energy and Sandisk worse. Nasdaq 100 -10% in July, Kospi down about a third.