Gigafund is a venture capital and private equity firm that is headquartered in Austin, Texas and was founded in 2017 by Luke Nosek (a member of the PayPal mafia and partner at Founders Fund) and Stephan Oskoui (former venture partner at FoundersFund and CEO of Smiley Media). The company focuses its investments in technology companies with long term potential. Co-founder Luke Nosek left Founders Fund, a venture capital firm he co-founded with Peter Thiel, to start Gigafund. When leaving the Founders Fund, the company released a public statement regarding Nosek leaving the company he co-founded by saying:
"Luke is leaving Founders Fund to launch a new endeavour. His unwavering commitment to entrepreneurs and passion for technology shaped the founding ethos of Founders Fund. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him well.
Initially Nosek's plans for Gigafund was to focus the firms efforts on raising money for SpaceX to ensure the company is not held back by financial constraints, but after the company successfully invested in SpaceX Gigafund began focusing on investing in other companies.
On July 26, 2017 Gigafund filed a Sec D form detailing Gigafunds first investment fund. The company successfully raised $100 million in funding according to the Sec D form. The form listed Luke Nosek and Stephen Oskoui as the partners of Gigafund. At the time of Sec D filing for their first fund Gigafund's official address was 1220 Seaport Blvd, Redwood City, California.
Gigafund's largest investment was in SpaceX on May 24, 2019. The company participated in a venture funding round held by SpaceX. Co-founder of Gigafund, Luke Nosek, has served on the board of SpaceX since 2008, and led the first venture investment from the Founders Fund into SpaceX.
On June 4, 2019 Gigafund lead the seed funding round for Luminous Capital.
On July 25, 2019 Gigafund participated in a venture funding round held by The Boring Company.
On May 1, 2019 Gigafund co-led the seed funding round for Golden.
Timeline
On July 26, 2017 Gigafund filed a Sec D form detailing Gigafunds first investment fund. The company successfully raised $100 million in funding according to the Sec D form.
Funded Companies
Golden is a company started in San Francisco, USA. The company is building an encyclopedia and knowledge tool. The founder and CEO of Golden is Jude Gomila.
U.S-based e-learning platform teaching coding, UX, and data science.
Synthetic biology company that uses AI, DNA synthesis, and robotics to discover biological molecules.
A technology company using photonics to improve the data processing capabilities of artificial intelligence models by attempting to create a supercomputer on a chip.
A company developing sleep mask with light therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), pain, and insomnia treatment. It was founded in 2015 and is located in Lafayette, Colorado.
Associated investment funds
People
Luke Nosek
Managing Partner
Stephan Oskoui
Managing Partner
Further reading
A high profile SpaceX investor tells a datacenter crowd why he believes in Musk
Nathan Mattise
Web
September 16, 2017
Founders Fund partner leaves to launch SpaceX-focused fund
Dan Primack
Web
December 15, 2017
Gigafund is inspired by Elon Musk's SpaceX
Brian Wang
Web
September 18, 2017
Luminous Raises $9 million in Seed Funding From Bill Gates, Gigafund, Neo and others
Luminous Computing
Web
June 4, 2019
PayPal co-founder launches firm to raise investment funds for SpaceX, report says
Samantha Masunaga
Web
July 27, 2017
PayPal co-founder Luke Nosek leaving Founders Fund, reportedly for SpaceX-focused fund
Katie Roof
Web
July 29, 2017