1517 Fund

What they do

Founded in 2015 by Danielle Strachman and Michael Gibson-who previously co-founded the Thiel Fellowship with Peter Thiel-1517 Fund is built on a fiercely anti-establishment philosophy. The firm is named after the year Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door, symbolizing their rebellion against the modern "paper belt" of universities that sell degrees as modern-day indulgences. They specialize in talent identification outside traditional academic and corporate tracks, providing grants, pre-seed, and seed funding to makers, hackers, and renegade scientists. 1517 Fund is highly regarded in the ecosystem for being the first institutional believer in unconventional talent, often backing founders before they even have a product.

What they look for

1517 Fund focuses on backing founders without undergraduate degrees, college dropouts, and those operating "outside of tracked institutions." They view startups as experiments worth backing early and prioritize the "who" over the "what." They look for uncredentialed founders, renegade scientists, and hackers with a strong bias for action, first-principles thinking, and strange or unconventional backstories. They are highly focused on deep tech, sci-fi science, and hardware/software plays that have the potential for massive, power-law returns.

Stage

Ideation, Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, Series B+

Sectors

Deeptech, AI, SaaS, Climate, Healthcare, Food and agriculture

Based

San Francisco, US