Joe Lonsdale

Lonsdale grew up in Fremont, California, and twice won the California state chess championship in his school years. He went on to study computer science at Stanford University, where he helped edit the Stanford Review.⁠[1]

He received a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Stanford University in 2003. While a student he worked at PayPalPayPalPayPal Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: PYPL) is an American digital payments company that operates payment brands including PayPal, Venmo, Braintree, and Xoom, providing online and in-store payments, money transfers, and consumer credit to consumers and merchants worldwide.Open the full entry, and after graduating he joined Peter ThielPeter ThielPeter Thiel is an American entrepreneur and investor, a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, and the first outside investor in Facebook. He is a partner at the venture capital firm Founders Fund and founded the Thiel Fellowship, which funds young people to leave college and build new things; his public skepticism of higher education, his support for Trump in 2016, and his funding of litigation against Gawker Media have drawn controversy.Open the full entry’s Clarium Capital as an early manager of the global macro hedge fund.⁠[2][1]

8VC’s website says he co-founded Palantir Technologies in 2003 and has since founded more than a dozen other companies, including Addepar and OpenGov.⁠[3]

In 2009 Lonsdale founded Addepar, a data and analytics platform for financial services firms, and became chairman of its board. The company’s current chief executive is Eric Poirier.⁠[4]

Before 8VC he was a founding partner of Formation 8. A biography kept by Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private university and Ivy League member in Princeton, New Jersey. Chartered on October 22, 1746 as the College of New Jersey, it moved to Princeton in 1756 and adopted its present name in 1896. Undergraduate education leads to A.B. and B.S.E. degrees and emphasizes small-group discussion, independent research and residential college life. Graduate education spans the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. As of October 2026, Christopher L. Eisgruber was president. Its 2026–27 operating budget was $3.407 billion, including $342 million for undergraduate aid.Open the full entry also lists him as a co-founder of companies including OpenGov, Affinity, Anduin, Epirus and Esper.⁠[2]

Lonsdale co-founded 8VC in 2015 and serves as its managing partner. The firm combines venture investing with company building and focuses on information technology infrastructure, logistics, health care, bioinformatics, government and defense.⁠[5][6]

In 2015 Elise Clougherty filed a civil lawsuit against Lonsdale that included allegations of sexual assault; he denied the allegations and filed a countersuit. On November 2 the lawsuit was withdrawn and Stanford University lifted its campus ban. A university spokesperson said new evidence led investigators to conclude that he had not violated the relevant Title IX policy; a temporary suspension from mentoring and teaching, imposed because the relationship had not been disclosed as university rules required, remained in place, and Lonsdale agreed not to contest it.⁠[7]

In 2016 Lonsdale and the 8VC team set up the Build Program, making company co-creation a formal part of the firm’s work. In 2020 8VC announced an expanded incubation effort to help create several companies a year, drawing technologists from its talent network to explore product and business opportunities.⁠[8]

Lonsdale co-founded the Cicero Institute and serves as its chairman. The institute works on public policy in areas such as criminal justice, housing and health care, advocating market incentives to improve public services.⁠[3][9]

Through 8VC Build he co-founded the defense technology company Epirus, which develops solid-state, software-defined directed-energy systems for counter-electronics and power-management applications.⁠[10][11]

8VC moved to Texas in 2020. Lonsdale has since been based in Austin.⁠[5][12]

In 2021 Lonsdale became founding chairman of the University of Austin (UATX). He recalled discussing the idea of starting a university with Niall Ferguson, Bari Weiss and Pano Kanelos in May of that year. The school is a separate institution from the University of Texas at Austin.⁠[13][3]

In February 2023 8VC closed its fifth flagship fund at $880 million.⁠[14]

On January 17, 2024 Lonsdale announced that he and Alex Magaro were creating 10 Build Scholarships at UATX; each recipient would receive a full-tuition scholarship plus $100,000 over four years. The program, aimed at the university’s first class, emphasizes innovation, building and hands-on practice.⁠[13]

On February 27, 2024 Cox Enterprises announced that it had acquired a majority stake in OpenGov in a deal valuing the company at $1.8 billion. OpenGov provides budgeting, accounting, procurement, asset management and permitting software for public agencies. Lonsdale is one of its co-founders; the announcement did not disclose any proceeds to him.⁠[15][2]

In January 2025 a regulatory filing showed 8VC seeking nearly $1 billion for its sixth fund, about 14% more than its previous fund.⁠[14]

On March 4, 2025 8VC announced that its sixth fund had secured $998 million in new limited partner capital to continue backing and co-building companies in life sciences, health care, defense, logistics, enterprise technology and education.⁠[16]

In August 2025 Leading the FutureLeading the FutureLeading the Future (LTF) is a US network of super PACs funded by figures in the artificial intelligence industry, launched in August 2025 by backers including Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI president Greg Brockman to take part in the 2026 midterm elections.Open the full entry, a super PAC network backed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman and Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry, launched with plans to spend $100 million on campaign donations and digital ads ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, supporting AI-friendly Democrats and Republicans and opposing candidates it sees as hindering the AI industry; Lonsdale was among its backers. The group said it would oppose “policies that stifle innovation.”⁠[17]

On October 16, 2025 Lonsdale said he was a founding director and early investor in Erebor, backing Palmer Luckey and his co-founding team together with 8VC. The previous day the OCC had granted preliminary conditional approval of the bank’s charter application, a step short of approval to open.⁠[18][19]

On December 16, 2025 the FDIC approved the deposit insurance application of Erebor Bank, N.A. The bank, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, plans to offer deposit and lending products to businesses and individuals in the technology, payment systems, investment and defense industries, including virtual currency market participants. The approval carried conditions, including a minimum tier 1 leverage ratio of 12 percent during its first three years of operation.⁠[20]

The OCC’s application record lists February 6, 2026 as the effective date of the bank’s charter. On February 8 Lonsdale, posting as an early investor, director and customer, said the bank would open the next day.⁠[21][22]

After an initial inquiry in February, Senator Elizabeth Warren in April asked the bank and the OCC for fundraising memoranda and approval records, questioning whether political connections had influenced the approval. These were questions raised by a lawmaker, not a legal finding of wrongdoing by Lonsdale or the bank. The OCC had said it applied the same review standards as for other applications.⁠[23][19]

In a May 2026 conversation on the Uncapped podcast, Lonsdale said his recent company building consisted mainly of assembling founding teams, attracting talent and defining a mission. He argued that AI startups should focus on real productivity, strong technical teams and industry workflows, and credited Palantir’s recent results to its current team.⁠[24]

On June 30, 2026 Lonsdale announced that 8VC had raised $1.5 billion for its seventh fund, focused on AI-driven productivity gains and on sectors including manufacturing, defense and health care.⁠[25]

It was 8VC’s largest fund to date, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to more than $6 billion.⁠[26]

As of August 2026, versions of the Cicero Institute’s model homelessness policy were law in 15 states, 11 of which made sleeping outside a crime, and the institute had helped shape a Trump administration executive order and related policy directing federal agencies on homelessness. Lonsdale said he opposes criminalizing homelessness itself and that jail should be a last resort for homeless people who break the law. Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center criticized the laws as contradicting that stance, while White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the administration was encouraged by state and local leaders who followed suit.⁠[27]

8VC’s website lists Lonsdale as the firm’s founder and managing partner and says the Cicero Institute has helped pass 175 bills in nearly 30 states.⁠[3]

Early investments listed by 8VC include Anduril, Oculus, Guardant Health, Oscar, Illumio, Flexport and Joby Aviation; the list consists of published examples and does not represent current holdings.⁠[3]

He also serves on the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute.⁠[3]

Lonsdale hosts the American Optimist interview show, featuring conversations on entrepreneurship, technology and public issues, and publishes essays on his personal blog.⁠[6]

Personal website: Public link: https://joelonsdale.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[6]

X: Public account: https://x.com/JTLonsdale (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

8VC: Official website: https://www.8vc.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[3]

Palantir Technologies: Official website: https://www.palantir.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[10]

Addepar: Official website: https://addepar.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[4]

OpenGov: Official website: https://opengov.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[2]

Epirus: Official website: https://www.epirusinc.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[10]

Cicero Institute: Official website: https://ciceroinstitute.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[9]

University of Austin: Official website: https://uaustin.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[13]

American Optimist: Official website: https://www.americanoptimist.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[6]

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute: Official website: https://www.reaganfoundation.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[3]