| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Venture capital |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas, |
| AUM | US$6 billion (2023) |
| Website | www |
8VC is an American venture capital firm founded by Joe Lonsdale.
History
editIn 2015, shortly after the breakup of another venture capital firm Lonsdale helped co-found, Formation 8, Lonsdale co-founded 8VC (originally called "8 Partners"[1]) with 15 of the 25 employees from Formation 8.[2][3] Originally based in San Francisco, Lonsdale relocated the firm's headquarters to Austin, Texas in 2020, shortly after moving there with his family.[4]
The fund employs Jack Moshkovich and Denis Aven, who are both respectively sons of Russian oligarchs Vadim Moshkovich and Petr Aven.[5][6] Lonsdale posted about these employees on X, saying, "I’m lucky to live in the greatest country in the world, and it will remain as such if we can keep working with the top talent of all backgrounds, including, yes, Chinese and Russians and Israelis et al, without demonizing people for imagined things they didn’t do. We haven’t taken any money from their fathers or their fathers’ friends, and don’t need it."[7]
In an interview with Real Assets Adviser magazine, Lonsdale elaborated on the story behind the name of the firm: "I named it 8VC for several reasons. Eight is an important number in Judaism and in Asia, and I’m Jewish and some of my partners are Korean. Eight is an important number in a lot of cultures. There’s also something called the Traitorous Eight in Silicon Valley, dating back to around the time William Shockley invented the transitor. He brought a team of eight engineers to Shockley Labs, but he was a terrible boss. He would give his employees lie detector tests. It was really a mess. When eight of them left to start Fairchild Semiconductor, Shockley considered them traitors. But then people from Fairchild ended up founding Intel, National Semiconductor, Sequoia, and Kleiner Perkins — all these great things. A lot of Silicon Valley came from the Traitorous Eight."[8]
Investments
edit8VC has invested in:
- Airbyte[9]
- Anduril[3][4]
- Bedrock Robotics[10][11]
- Hyperloop One[3][4]
- Synthego[3][4]
- UBiome[3][4]
- Cognition AI[12]
- Epirus[13]
- Saronic [14]
References
edit- ^ McBride, Sarah (July 14, 2016). "New VC Firms Emerge From Ashes of Silicon Valley's Formation 8". Bloomberg. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
- ^ Lunden, Ingrid (November 4, 2015). "Formation 8 Axes Plans For Third Fund, Lonsdale Now Raising $400M For "8 Partners"". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Loizos, Connie (January 16, 2017). "Joe Lonsdale moves forward with 8VC's new fund and more". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 8, 2024. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Hartmans, Avery (November 6, 2020). "Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale is moving his VC firm from Silicon Valley to Austin, in part because it is 'more tolerant of ideological diversity'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 8, 2024. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
- ^ Mudge, Rob (30 Aug 2024). "What X's alleged ties to Russian oligarchs mean for Musk". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
- ^ Ach, Brian (20 August 2024). "A Major U.S. Defense Investor Has Links To Sanctioned Russian Oligarchs". Forbes. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
- ^ "Sons of sanctioned Russian oligarchs employed by US defense-focused fund". NV Nation. November 4, 2015. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- ^ Consol, Mike (May 1, 2025). "Profile: Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, 8VC". Real Assets Adviser. Vol. 12, no. 5. Institutional Real Estate, Inc. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
- ^ Miller, Ron (2021-05-25). "Airbyte announces $26M Series A for open-source data connector platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-14.
- ^ Ohnsman, Alan (July 15, 2025). "Waymo Vets Are Automating Construction With Self-Driving Dirt Diggers". Forbes. Retrieved February 4, 2026.
- ^ Korosec, Kirsten (July 16, 2025). "Ex-Waymo engineers launch Bedrock Robotics with $80M to automate construction". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 1, 2026.
- ^ "Cognition AI Hits $4 Billion Valuation in Deal Led by Lonsdale's Firm". Bloomberg News. 17 March 2025. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
- ^ "Joe Lonsdale-Backed Drone Defense Startup Epirus Set to Raise Over $150 Million". Bloomberg News. 9 January 2025. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
- ^ "Saronic | Portfolio Company | 8VC". www.8vc.com. Retrieved 2026-04-16.
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