Investor Profile: 1517 Fund — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

1517 Fund backs founders first, and means it literally: the firm exists to fund dropouts, renegade students and deep-tech scientists that the establishment overlooks. Founded in 2015 by Thiel Fellowship cofounders Danielle Strachman and Michael Gibson, it writes first cheques from $50,000 at the idea stage to $1 million for deep-tech seed rounds, averaging a $400,000 pre-seed cheque, from $175M+ in capital committed. For startup funding at the earliest, strangest stage, few firms compete.

Thesis

Strachman and Gibson cofounded the Thiel Fellowship with Peter Thiel in 2010 on a simple belief: great founders do not need university degrees. The fellowship's $100k grants helped birth Ethereum, Figma, OYO Rooms and Luminar; 1517 was started in 2015 to scale that vision. The firm describes itself as an anti-establishment educational institution: it is more about the 'who' than the 'what', backing makers, hackers and renegade scientists. The name comes from 31 October 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his theses to a church door: diplomas, the firm argues, are today's indulgences.

Sectors and stages

The firm makes initial investments anywhere from the R and D or idea phase up through seed. It likes software, hardware with a data play, deep tech and sci-fi tech, and biotech, and it explicitly backs founders without undergraduate degrees alongside deep-tech scientists.

Fund size and cheque size

Unusually for an early-stage firm, 1517 publishes its numbers: 4 flagship funds, 15+ SPVs for follow-on into top performers, and $175M+ in capital committed. First cheques range from $50,000 at the idea and R and D stage to $1 million for deep-tech and sci-fi seed companies, with an average $400,000 pre-seed cheque.

Notable portfolio

1517 was the first institutional investor in Luminar, the first investor in Loom, the first institutional investor in nTop and the first institutional investor in Cents. Loom cofounder and CEO Joe Thomas credits the firm with wiring money before the deal documents were done so the company would not run out of cash. Other names include Lambda (founder and CEO Stephen Balaban), Symba (cofounder and CEO Ahva Sadeghi; acquired in November 2025), Positron AI and Rebel Labs. PitchBook tracks 190 investments, a 94-company portfolio and 52 exits.

Partners

Michael Gibson and Danielle Strachman are General Partners and co-founders; Strachman previously led design and operations for the Thiel Fellowship and founded Innovations Academy, a San Diego charter school. Zak Slayback and Nick Arnett are Partners; Arnett previously founded the WayPaver Foundation and never attended university as a student. Haylee Johnson is Operations Partner.

Programs, credits and perks

Beyond cheques, 1517 runs the Medici Program, minimum $1,000 grants to help founders validate an idea. It also maintains a global community of thousands of hackers, makers, scientists and renegades with events, workshops, office hours and camps, plus a quarterly newsletter, Letters from the Edge.

How to apply for funding

The firm's pitch page is blunt: 'Write in! We read all submissions. If we can help, we're usually in touch within a few days.' Founders apply through the form submission on 1517fund.com; those not yet ready to raise can write in about the Medici Program grants instead.