A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide for wealthy investors and consumers. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. Blackstone billionaire David Blitzer, the first person to own stakes in teams in all five of America’s major professional sports leagues, has another feather in his cap. Last week, Blitzer’s personal investment company, Bolt Ventures, joined a consortium to buy the Red Bull KTM Tech3 MotoGP team for $50 million. Other ultra-wealthy investment firms also made heated bets in January, including Jeff Bezos’ eponymous family office, which co-led a $1.4 billion fundraising for AI robotics company SkildAI. Bezos Expedition also joined Emerson Collective, Laurene Powell Jobs’ investment and philanthropy firm, as part of a $480 million funding round for Humans &, a startup aiming to train artificial intelligence models to collaborate with humans rather than replace them. However, aside from these high-profile investments, family office deals aren’t off to a flying start in 2026. In January, family offices made 52 direct investments in companies, according to data provided exclusively to CNBC by private wealth management platform Fintrx. This figure represents a 32% drop in transactions on an annual basis. Direct investment activity last year was also subdued as companies limited their direct bets amid tariff uncertainty and geopolitical conflict. However, even if family offices are betting less, they remain fond of mega-rounds, which now dominate the venture capital landscape. In 2025, half of the $339.4 billion raised represented just 0.05% of deals closed, according to PitchBook. In other deals last month, Michael Bloomberg’s Willett Advisors and Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office both backed a $257 million Series D round for Cellares, which builds automated laboratories for manufacturing cell therapies. Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Horizon Ventures also participated in a $150 million Series D for Alpaca, a technology brokerage that counts Kraken among its clients.
