Austin-based venture capital firm 8VC sees our civilization in a dystopian way.
"The world is broken," co-founder Joe Lonsdale wrote.
It's part of a bold stance the firm has held for years, and it feeds into 8VC's strategy to attract startups, entrepreneurs and investors who want to build companies that break through regulatory barriers and traditional institutions.
"Today, the core of our society is threatened by growing dysfunction, and a plethora of unaccountable bureaucracies and oligopolies," Lonsdale wrote in a March 1 blog post.
But investment firms are inherently glass-half-full types. "We are optimistic about the resilience of our society — particularly here in the United States — but don't take for granted the unique prosperity we enjoy today," Lonsdale wrote.
8VC has previously raised billions through its first four funds, and on March 1 announced it has raised an $880 million fifth fund. Its replenished war chest likely makes it the biggest Texas-based venture fund for startups, although it appears several others invest more actively in local startups.
8VC's funds seem to be rivaled only by the historic funds of Austin Ventures, a firm that wound down its early-stage investing nearly a decade ago, and by venture firms that have offices here but not their headquarters, such as Mainsail Partners.
8VC was founded in 2015 by Lonsdale, a serial entrepreneur and who co-founder of Palantir Technologies Inc., which is based in Denver and has offices in Austin.
In the latest blog post, Lonsdale said the 8VC team number numbers more than 60 and is "stronger than ever."
"Our new headquarters in Austin has become a magnet for entrepreneurs and builders from the world over," he wrote.
The firm has made around 400 investments, and led 120 of those funding rounds, according to Crunchbase. While the firm moved its headquarters to Austin in 2020, most of its investments before and after the move have been with companies based outside of the Texas capital.
But it does have portfolio companies in Austin. In February 2021, 8VC joined LiveOak Venture Partners and Next Coast Ventures in a $4 million seed round for Austin-based e-commerce returns and resale software startup FloorFound. It also led a $3.1 million seed round for Austin health-tech startup DocStation in April 2021. In May 2021, it contributed to a $23 million series B round for Hearth, a local startup that created a tool to help contractors manage finances for home repairs, and a few months later led a $5.5 million seed round for Zeno Technologies Inc., which has a fintech platform for the energy sector.
8VC has also invested heavily in Elon Musk's The Boring Company, which moved its headquarters to Pflugerville in 2022.
In 2021, 8VC launched a partnership with Lineage Logistics and said it might invest in emerging startups from Austin or anywhere around the globe. The firm has also said it plans to work with entrepreneurs to build startups from scratch out of 8VC’s Build program.
"As we continue to build companies in this space, there’s a high likelihood that they will be based in Austin," 8VC co-founder Jake Medwell said in 2021 as the program launched. "We want to bring the best entrepreneurs here, and we want to work with the best entrepreneurs that are currently in Austin, as well."
8VC is part of a wave of venture capital firms that have moved to Austin or opened offices here in the past five years, along with Mithril Capital Management LLC, Breyer Capital and Moneta Ventures.
