We are investors who never stopped being engineers, operators, policymakers, philosophers, and entrepreneurs. We are equally fervent realists and optimists, with an irreverence for convention and a reverence for wisdom.
[about us]
As investors, we like to start with two questions:
01
What is possible now that wasn’t five years ago?
02
How can these breakthroughs create the most economic and societal value?
[RESPONSIBILITY]
The world is broken. Let’s fix it.
This is open-ended by design. There are myriad ways we can contribute to a better world, from saving lives to improving them. We support company missions as diverse as safer bone marrow transplants, zero-emission aircraft, enforcement of privacy laws, and rapid tunneling for less congested cities.
This is ingrained in our motto
These are a few of the values that inform where we invest, and how we support our companies:
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Take it Personally
Our work is our art.
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Stewardship
We are fiduciaries and stewards to our limited partners and also to our principles, our firm, and the innovation ecosystem. Our work matters and we are building for the long term.
Positive Sum
Success, in all its forms, gives rise to more success. If we forget about getting our share, and focus on doing our part, we can all prosper.
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Principled
Contrarianism
Being different gets attention. Being different, and right, can change the world.
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Patriotism
We believe in the American experiment, that its ideals are worth striving for and its people and institutions are worth defending.
[our values]
The Smart Enterprise
8VC’s Smart Enterprise thesis, written in 2013, posited the next phenomenon to dominate the technology landscape. In short, Smart Enterprise means:
Leveraging the power of data integration
Enabling human experts to solve non-linear problems
Building platforms and harnessing network effects to take on entire problem spaces.
We predicted that “the smart enterprise wave will disrupt nearly every major sector of the global economy”, and over nine years later, we believe these predictions have been validated. Each industry thesis is in some way an expression of overarching Smart Enterprise concepts.
[Our Thesis]
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Logistics
We’ve invested in platforms that help logistics companies become modern data enterprises. Key applications include streamlining resources, fleet operations, and finance; leveraging telematics for better performance, and, in special cases, building ambitious, next-generation forms of transportation.
Related Companies
Key Advisors
Sudarsan Thattai
Chief Information Officer, Lineage Logistics
Alan Gershenhorn
Former Chief Commercial Officer and EVP, UPS
Chris Sultemeier
EVP Logistics, Walmart Stores, Inc
Life Sciences
Much as human biology is characterized by transformative interactions, new companies are combining specialized fields such as cell therapy, synthetic bio, biomanufacturing, microfluidics, and genomics-IT with approaches such as CRISPR and AI - and unlocking exponential breakthroughs for patients.
Related Companies
Key Advisors
Arie Belldegrun, MD
Founder, Kite Pharma, Allogene, Cougar Biotech, Agensys;
Andrew Perlman
Chief Medical Officer of Velocity Pharmaceutical Development
Healthcare
Healthcare in the US is at an inflection point: the demand for better quality and accessibility has never been greater, and value-based care is proliferating. In this new environment, tech-enabled care models are fast taking hold, once-brittle IT systems are being made robust and scalable, and underserved populations are starting to get the attention they deserve.
Related Companies
Key Advisors
Rebekah Gee
Founder and CEO, Nest Health
Toby Cosgrove
Former President and CEO, Cleveland Clinic
IT Infrastructure
As enterprises make the transition into a cloud-native world, a new generation of companies is rewriting the rules for data infrastructure and application software. These increasingly horizontal platforms are optimized for power and precision, serving the needs of advanced practitioners at an unprecedented scale.
Related Companies
Key Advisors
Doug Merritt
Former CEO, Splunk
Ganesh Krishnan
Fmr VP Eng, Sophos
Ameet Patel
Seed Investor & Senior Advisor
Government & Defense
Our Smart Enterprise thesis was partly born from the experience of building Palantir. Years later, companies in our GovTech portfolio are helping visionary public servants harness the power of data integration and modern architecture to make government more transparent, efficient, and responsive.
Related Companies
Key Advisors
Stephen Harper
22nd Prime Minister of Canada
John Tenet
Co-Founder, Vice Chairman, Epirus
Zachary Bookman
CEO, OpenGov
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[about us]
Our Namesake:
"The Traitorous Eight"
In 1955-56, William Shockley, a Nobel Laureate in physics, recruited a group of Ph.D graduates to develop new semiconductor devices. While Shockley was brilliant, the group revolted under his authoritarian management. In 1957, eight employees left to form a competitor, Fairchild Semiconductor, with a garage as their first office. Fairchild enjoyed a number of years atop the semiconductor industry, yet its real legacy is the tree of new companies, investment, and leadership that grew from the original team - and came to define Silicon Valley as we know it.
Decades later, the story of the “Traitorous Eight” continues to inspire 8VC. It teaches us to embrace positive-sum thinking, improve on the status quo, and empower individuals to do their best work. It reminds us that loyalty is earned, not coerced. Finally, it instills the hope that our investments will create many times more value for our society than for ourselves.