1517 Fund

About

1517 Fund is a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Telluride, Colorado, co-founded in 2015 by Danielle Strachman and Michael Gibson ¹². The firm’s name references the year Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses, drawing an analogy between the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences and the modern university system’s sale of diplomas ³. Gibson has stated: “We thought we’d name our fund 1517 as a way to show we don’t believe in modern indulgences” ³.

Strachman and Gibson previously co-founded the Thiel Fellowship with Peter Thiel in 2010, a program that gave $100,000 grants to young people to skip or leave college and pursue entrepreneurship ¹². Thiel Fellows from the program they ran include Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum), Dylan Field (Figma), Austin Russell (Luminar Technologies), Ritesh Agarwal (OYO Rooms), and Laura Deming (Longevity Fund) ⁴. By 2015, Strachman and Gibson decided to launch a venture fund based on their thesis about finding talented young people outside the credentialed path ³.

The firm has raised four flagship funds: Fund I at $20 million (2015), Fund II at approximately $24 million (circa 2019-2020), Fund III at $80 million (2022), and Fund IV at $100 million (2025), bringing total capital committed to over $175 million ³⁵⁶. The firm has also deployed 15+ follow-on SPVs for top-performing portfolio companies ¹. First checks range from $50,000 at the idea/R&D stage to $1,000,000 for seed-stage deep-tech companies, with an average pre-seed check of approximately $400,000 ¹⁷.

Fund I has delivered a 4.41x DPI (cash returned to investors) and 9.65x TVPI with a 38.86% IRR, placing it in the top 5% of 2015-vintage venture funds per Cambridge Associates benchmarks ⁴. The firm describes itself as “technically a venture capital fund, but we like to think of ourselves as an anti-establishment educational institution” ⁴.

Beyond direct investments, 1517 runs the Medici Grant Program, distributing over 3,000 no-strings-attached grants of $1,000 or more to teenagers and young builders pursuing passion projects ¹⁴. The firm also operates an “Invisible College” program, deploying $50,000-$100,000 checks into companies at the R&D frontier of deep technology ³. The firm maintains a community of over 6,000 members including hackers, scientists, and young founders ¹.

Stated Thesis

1517 Fund publicly describes its mission as backing “dropouts, renegade students, and sci-fi scientists” at the earliest stages ¹. The firm states it supports “makers, hackers, and scientists interested in working outside tracked institutions because we believe that the path geared towards higher education is not for all” ².

Strachman has stated that approximately “85 percent of our deals fit that dropout category. And then 15 percent…we will break our dropout thesis in the name of science fiction” ⁸. The firm’s stated focus areas include software, hardware with a data play, deep tech/sci-fi technology, and biotech ¹.

Gibson has described the ideal founder as someone who is “both insiders and outsiders at the same time,” adding: “We love when we meet people with that kind of vision. But the vision has to be matched by dedication and execution” ³.

Strachman has described the qualities she looks for as “social geeks…extraordinarily mission driven…willing to die on your sword for what you’re doing” ⁸. She has emphasized that founders should be able to explain their work accessibly: “Speak to us like we are the dumbest golden retrievers you have ever met” ⁸.

The firm explicitly positions itself as a “first believer” investor, often knowing founders for months or years before writing a check ⁸. Strachman has stated: “The role we play the most is that of first believer. And trusted confidant” ¹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 28 verified portfolio investments (see Portfolio table below), the following patterns emerge. Note: 1517 reports over 100 investments across its funds; this analysis covers approximately 28% of the total portfolio, so percentages should be treated as directional rather than definitive.

Sector Distribution (28 verified investments): - Deep Tech / Hardware / Sensors: 8 of 28 (29%) — Luminar, Positron AI, Mach Industries, Solideon, Presso, eEva, CalWave Power Technologies, Marathon Fusion - AI / ML Infrastructure: 5 of 28 (18%) — Lambda, Deepgram, HelloWoofy, Trilobio, Pareto - Aerospace / Space: 3 of 28 (11%) — Xona Space Systems, Rainmaker, Mach Industries (dual-counted above) - Quantum Computing: 1 of 28 (4%) — Atom Computing - SaaS / Software: 6 of 28 (21%) — Loom, Fountain, FOSSA, nTopology, Cents, Office Otter - Biotech / Life Sciences: 2 of 28 (7%) — Miist Therapeutics, Ceragen - Other: 3 of 28 (11%) — Figma (design tools), JobPixel, Stark Therapeutics

Stage Distribution (28 verified investments): - Pre-Seed / R&D: approximately 18 of 28 (64%) — consistent with stated focus as first check writer - Seed: approximately 10 of 28 (36%) - The firm’s self-description as an extreme-inception investor is strongly supported by the data

Founder Profile Patterns: - The majority of identified portfolio founders lack traditional undergraduate degrees or dropped out of college, consistent with the stated thesis. Examples include Austin Russell (dropped out of Stanford at 17), Stephen Balaban (Lambda), Ethan Thornton (MIT dropout, Mach Industries), Augustus Doricko (UC Berkeley dropout, Rainmaker), and Kevin Wang (FOSSA, 2013 Thiel Fellow) ⁴⁹. - Strong overlap with Thiel Fellowship alumni: multiple portfolio companies (Luminar, Figma, FOSSA, Positron AI, Mach Industries, Rainmaker) were founded by Thiel Fellows ⁴. - Founders tend to be young (teens to mid-20s) with deep technical obsession in a specific domain.

Geographic Distribution: - U.S.-focused, with concentrations in San Francisco Bay Area and other major tech hubs. The firm also has a presence covering the Midwest (partner Nick Arnett is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana) and international markets through partner Babar Khan (Saudi Arabia, Asia, Europe) ¹⁰.

Co-investor Patterns: - At the pre-seed/seed stage, 1517 often invests alongside or ahead of Y Combinator, Initialized Capital, and other early-stage specialists. Later rounds of portfolio companies have attracted Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, B Capital Group, Nvidia, and Insight Partners ¹¹¹²¹³.

Notable Gaps: - Despite claiming to be tech-agnostic across verticals, the portfolio shows a pronounced tilt toward hard tech (hardware, sensors, quantum, fusion, space) and AI infrastructure, with relatively fewer pure consumer internet or fintech investments compared to the broad sector list on aggregator sites.

Portfolio

Portfolio Completeness Note: This table represents approximately 28 of over 100 reported investments (roughly 28%). The firm states it has made approximately 40 investments across Funds I and II, and approximately 100 investments in Fund III alone ⁸. Only investments with at least one verifiable source are included.

Notable Exits: - Luminar Technologies: IPO via SPAC in December 2020 at $3.4 billion valuation; returned approximately 3.5-4x on Fund I ⁸⁹. Filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2025 ⁴. - Loom: Acquired by Atlassian in October 2023 for approximately $975 million; 1517 achieved approximately 25x MOIC on its early investment ¹¹²⁵. - Lambda: Valued at $5.9 billion at its November 2025 Series E ⁴¹⁴. First invested at approximately $4 million valuation ⁴. - Deepgram: Raised $130 million at $1.3 billion valuation in January 2026 ¹⁵.

In Their Own Words

“By 2015, Danielle and I were thinking, ‘Wow, we’ve been doing this as a non-profit, but we could launch a venture capital fund based on our thesis about finding talented young people and the uncredentialed.’” — Michael Gibson, Raging Capital Ventures interview ³

“Our first fund was $20m. Our second about $25m. Our third fund is $80m, so we’re going to be making more investments and writing larger first checks into companies.” — Michael Gibson, Raging Capital Ventures interview ³

“One new program is something we call our ‘Invisible College.’ These are $50k-$100k checks into companies that are really early in the R&D phase on the frontier of a deep technology.” — Michael Gibson, Raging Capital Ventures interview ³

“Young people should be taken seriously, outstanding founders are found without credentials and even in the oddest of places, and that the edges of technology and science can and often are advanced by those least likely to be recognized by sclerotic institutions.” — Michael Gibson, The Odin Times ⁴

“At some point in the last fifty years, our culture flipped. Dedication to the truth became the counterculture. The establishment became denial. For us as a venture capital fund, the truth became profitable.” — Michael Gibson, The Odin Times ⁴

“85 percent of our deals fit that dropout category. And then 15 percent…we will break our dropout thesis in the name of science fiction.” — Danielle Strachman, First Funders podcast ⁸

“We’re really like, cutting the leash for people who have very untapped potential.” — Danielle Strachman, First Funders podcast ⁸

“A lot of times when we’re writing a check, we’ve already known the founder sometimes for months or sometimes for years.” — Danielle Strachman, First Funders podcast ⁸

What Founders Say

“1517 believed in me first.” — Stephen Balaban, CEO of Lambda, 1517 Fund website ¹

“Danielle and Michael were our biggest early believers. They met with us weekly, gave us feedback, and wired us money before the deal docs were done as our pre-seed lead so that we wouldn’t run out of money 48hrs later.” — Portfolio founder testimonial, 1517 Fund website ¹

“Danielle, Michael, Zak and the whole team are genuinely invested in our success and have been there to support us through the good and the challenging times. This is one of many reasons that 1517 Fund has cultivated an amazing group of founders in their portfolio.” — Portfolio founder testimonial, 1517 Fund website ¹

“Can’t honestly say Loom would be a company if it hadn’t been for their belief.” — Loom founder testimonial, 1517 Fund website ¹

Note: The above founder quotes are sourced from 1517 Fund’s own website and should be considered in that context. No independently sourced founder testimonials from third-party publications were found during this research.

Sources