SUBJECT-12939.dossier · company · status: active
1F
subject of file

1517 Fund

Venture fund started by former Thiel Foundation staff with Thiel backing
Tracked because Venture fund started by former Thiel Foundation staff with Thiel backing · 8 documented connections
Facts on record19
Connections mapped8
Sources cited35
Evidence: 10P+2 9S+1
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🧠 Cognitive harm in your donor network
Inferential confidence
Tracked platforms owned by individuals or entities that have donated to this person or organisation.
1 documented harm · Documented
via Peter Thiel (donor)
Rumble
40
1 documented harm · Moderate
via Peter Thiel (donor)
Inferred path: each card shows the connecting entity. See full methodology →
Stated vs Revealed
No documented contradictions on file.
PATTERN person → [donor] → company 746× PATTERN elected official → [donor] → person → [donor] → company 489× PATTERN company → [affiliation] → company → [affiliation] → company 347× PATTERN company → [affiliation] → company → [investor] → company 344× PATTERN company → [investor] → company → [affiliation] → company 344×
Connection Map
Key Connections
← Patri Friedman person
affiliation
Patri Friedman was a partner or affiliated with the 1517 Fund, a venture capital fund investing in student and early-stage founders.
← Thiel Capital company
employed_by
Michael Gibson was a principal at Thiel Capital before founding 1517.
Facts (19)
Data Freshness
Ageing Last update: 167d ago · Avg age: 977d
Confidence Tiers: Primary Source — cross-referenced government/corporate filings Pending Review — sourced but not independently verified AI Inference — analytical hypothesis from cross-referencing
✓ Verified Findings (19)
Independently re-checked: a second model read the source artifact and confirmed it supports the extracted claim.
✓ verified Pending Review 1517 Fund I GP, LLC listed its principal place of business as 5519 McMillan Street, Oakland, California in its initial SEC Form D filing.
Date: 2015-06-15 Added: 02 May 2026 UNVERIFIED SEC FORM D - 1517 Fund I, L.P.
✓ verified Pending Review Michael Gibson published the book 'Paper Belt on Fire' in November 2022 via Encounter Books, detailing the firm's thesis of 'shorting the higher education bubble' with an endorsement from Peter Thiel.
Date: 2022-11-29 Added: 02 May 2026 UNVERIFIED Paper Belt on Fire - Encounter Books
✓ verified Pending Review The firm operates four flagship funds and over 15 Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), managing more than $175 million in committed capital.
Added: 02 May 2026 UNVERIFIED 1517 Fund - Backing Dropouts, Students & SciFi Science
✓ verified Pending Review Peter Thiel provided a $4 million initial commitment on the spot for 1517's debut $20 million fund (Fund I).
Date: 2015-06-15 Added: 02 May 2026 UNVERIFIED Protestant Capital
✓ verified Pending Review The fund's name references the year 1517 when Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, explicitly equating modern university degrees to the Catholic Church's sale of indulgences.
Added: 02 May 2026 UNVERIFIED 1517 Fund — Investment Thesis & Preferences
✓ verified Pending Review 1517 Fund was established in 2015 by Danielle Strachman and Michael Gibson, who previously led the design and operations of the Thiel Fellowship.
Date: 2015-06-15 Added: 02 May 2026 UNVERIFIED SEC FORM D - 1517 Fund I, L.P.
✓ verified Primary Source 1517 Fund's name references Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517) — explicitly framing universities/credentialing institutions as the modern Catholic Church selling 'indulgences' (degrees).
✓ verified Pending Review Gibson publicly claims 1517 Fund's returns place it 'in the top one or two percent of all funds in its class.'
Added: 30 Apr 2026
✓ verified Primary Source Co-founder Michael Gibson published 'Paper Belt on Fire: How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University' (Encounter Books, November 2022), with a back-cover endorsement from Peter Thiel.
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Notable portfolio companies include Luminar Technologies, Loom, Figma (via Thiel Fellowship lineage), Lambda, Deepgram, nTop, and Cents.
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Initial check sizes range from $50,000 (idea/R&D stage) to $1,000,000 (deep-tech seed), with average pre-seed check ~$400,000.
✓ verified Partially Corroborated The fund operates four flagship funds plus 15+ Special Purpose Vehicles with over $175 million in committed capital and has invested in 100+ portfolio companies.
✓ verified Primary Source 1517 Fund II GP, LLC lists business address 5519 McMillan Street, Oakland, CA 94618; Strachman and Gibson are the named executive officers/managing members of the General Partner.
✓ verified Primary Source 1517 Fund II, L.P. filed Form D with the SEC for a pooled investment fund (Venture Capital Fund) claiming Section 3(c)(1) exemption; March 25, 2019 filing reported $40,000,000 offering with $18,950,000 sold, target raise up to $50,000,000, 49 investors.
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Danielle Strachman led design and operations of the Thiel Fellowship from 2010 before co-founding 1517; she previously founded the Innovations Academy charter school in San Diego.
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Michael Gibson previously served as Vice President of Grants at the Thiel Foundation and as a principal at Thiel Capital, where he contributed research to Thiel's global macro hedge fund and helped teach a Stanford Law course on sovereignty and technological change.
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Peter Thiel personally backs the 1517 Fund, which is described as extending support originally granted by the Thiel Fellowship.
Added: 30 Apr 2026 ↗ SOURCE: Peter Thiel
✓ verified Primary Source 1517 Fund was founded in 2015 by Danielle Strachman and Michael Gibson, both prior cofounders of the Thiel Fellowship (launched 2010).
Date: 2015-06-15 Added: 30 Apr 2026 ↗ SOURCE: Peter Thiel
✓ verified Partially Corroborated 1517 Fund filed filing with the SEC on 2020-11-23. Accession number: N/A.
Date: 2020-11-23 Added: 23 Apr 2026 ↗ RECORDS: SEC EDGAR: filing — 1517 Fund (2020-11-23)
All Connections (8)
→ Valar Ventures company
founder inferential since 2015
Peter Thiel is a co-founder of Valar Ventures, and 1517 Fund shares the same Thiel-affiliated investment ecosystem, though no direct link is documented in the provided facts.
→ Founders Fund company
affiliation inferential since 2015
Peter Thiel is a co-founder of Founders Fund, which shares the same broad venture ecosystem as 1517 Fund, though no direct investment from Founders Fund to 1517 Fund is documented here.
→ Clarium Capital company
affiliation inferential since 2015
Michael Gibson contributed research to Thiel's global macro hedge fund at Thiel Capital, which is related to Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital management background.
← General Catalyst company
contractor secondary
Listed as one of the most frequent co-investors in 1517 Fund's portfolio companies.
← Peter Thiel person
donor secondary
Backs the fund as an investor/anchor LP per multiple secondary sources (Wikipedia, Investorlist).
← Thiel Capital company
employed_by primary
Michael Gibson was a principal at Thiel Capital before founding 1517.
← Patri Friedman person
affiliation primary since 2019
Patri Friedman was a partner or affiliated with the 1517 Fund, a venture capital fund investing in student and early-stage founders.
← Pronomos Capital company
investor inferential since 2019
Pronomos Capital and 1517 Fund are both listed in the known entities database, and both are known in public reports as venture funds investing in similar early-stage, science/technology-driven startups, often connected to the same network (e.g., Thiel network, seasteading).
Sources (35)
2020-12-04 ↗ SEC EDGAR: D — 1517 Fund - SPV E, L.P. (2020-12-04) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2019-04-08 ↗ SEC EDGAR: D — 1517 Fund II, L.P. (2019-04-08) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-11-23 ↗ SEC EDGAR: D — 1517 Fund I - SPV C, L.P. (2020-11-23) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-12-03 ↗ SEC EDGAR: D — 1517 Fund I - SPV A, L.P. (2020-12-03) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-11-23 ↗ SEC EDGAR: D — 1517 Fund I - SPV B, L.P. (2020-11-23) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-06-16 ↗ SEC EDGAR: D/A — 1517 Fund II, L.P. (2020-06-16) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-06-16 ↗ SEC EDGAR: filing — 1517 Fund (2020-06-16) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2019-04-08 ↗ SEC EDGAR: filing — 1517 Fund (2019-04-08) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-11-23 ↗ SEC EDGAR: filing — 1517 Fund (2020-11-23) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-12-04 ↗ SEC EDGAR: filing — 1517 Fund (2020-12-04) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-12-03 ↗ SEC EDGAR: filing — 1517 Fund (2020-12-03) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: 1517 Fund — SEC filings (no results) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: 1517 Fund — Lobbying disclosures (no results) government_disclosure Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: 1517 Fund — Corporate registrations (no results) government_disclosure Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: 1517 Fund — Court records (no results) court_document Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: 1517 Fund — USASpending contracts (no results) contract Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: 1517 Fund — Parliamentary records (no results) parliamentary_record Processed 📜 Receipt
— UNVERIFIED Paper Belt on Fire - Encounter Books external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
2026-03-15 UNVERIFIED Protestant Capital external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
2026-04-16 UNVERIFIED 1517 Fund — Investment Thesis & Preferences external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
— UNVERIFIED 1517 Fund - Backing Dropouts, Students & SciFi Science external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
2015 UNVERIFIED SEC FORM D - 1517 Fund I, L.P. external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
— ↗ 1517 Fund — 2026 Investor Profile, Portfolio, Team & Investment Trends external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
— ↗ 1517 Fund: Funding, Team & Investors external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
— ↗ 1517 Fund — VC Fund Profile external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
2022 ↗ A Memoir and a Manifesto (review of Paper Belt on Fire) external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
2023-02 ↗ What's the 'Paper Belt' and Why Set It on Fire? external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
2022-11 ↗ Paper Belt on Fire: How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the Universi… external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
— ↗ 1517 Fund — Beyond The Billion partner profile external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
— ↗ Thiel Capital external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
— ↗ Peter Thiel external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
— ↗ 1517 Fund — Backing Dropouts, Students & SciFi Science external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-06-16 ↗ 1517 Fund II, L.P. Form D filing (CIK 0001772980) external_handoff Processed 📜 Receipt
2026-04-23 UNVERIFIED SEARCH_ERROR: 1517 Fund not found in opencorporates claim_flag Processed 📜 Receipt
2020-11-23 ↗ SEC EDGAR: filing — 1517 Fund (2020-11-23) discovery_scope_note Processed 📜 Receipt