Forget in regards to the PayPal Mafia. There’s one other elite community in Silicon Valley you have to find out about—and it began at a pupil newspaper referred to as the Stanford Review.
The conservative pupil newspaper cofounded by Peter Thiel in 1987 has been riling up the left-leaning Stanford neighborhood for greater than three many years. But it’s additionally quietly turn into one of many surest paths to an enviable job in Silicon Valley.
Here’s a have a look at the intensive community of tech traders and founders who received their begin writing for the Review:
As I write in my latest characteristic story:
A glance again by means of the archived mastheads of the Review exhibits how huge—but in addition how tight—the legendary investor’s orbit is. Several of PayPal’s cofounders or early executives—Thiel, Craft Ventures’ David Sacks, and former U.S. ambassador to Sweden Ken Howery—wrote for the paper, as did three founders of Palantir, a protection know-how firm with a market capitalization of almost $33 billion as of mid-August. You can add Founders Fund investor Keith Rabois, who had stints at LinkedIn and Square, and Founders Fund principal John Luttig to the combination as effectively. Joe Lonsdale, who labored for Thiel after serving as editor-in-chief of the Review and now runs enterprise capital agency 8VC, has employed a lot of the conservative paper’s staffers, together with Alex Moore, one in every of Lonsdale’s longest-running investing companions, and, simply final yr, recent Stanford alum Maxwell Meyer. (Lonsdale married one other Review editor, Tayler Cox, and Lonsdale’s brother wrote for the paper, too.)
Thiel himself continues to be influential in cultivating the paper’s neighborhood:
Thiel stays concerned to at the present time, internet hosting dinners for staffers for greater than three many years now—at his home, or at locations just like the Sundance steakhouse in Palo Alto—the place he discusses world occasions and political philosophy and asks college students questions on faculty life and what concepts are circulating round campus. In 2017, there was a thirtieth anniversary celebration for Review alumni, and the Stanford Review’s present editor-in-chief, Walker Stewart, instructed Fortune he had attended a dinner for Review writers hosted by Thiel in simply the previous yr.
I spoke with 10 present or former Review editors and staffers, together with Thiel, and reviewed tons of of pages of nonprofit filings in addition to an intensive community of firm web sites, LinkedIn pages, and archived newspaper articles to grasp how the scholar newspaper turned such a outstanding, but controversial, launchpad into the Silicon Valley tech ecosystem—and to piece collectively the frequent thread that sure them collectively. You can learn the complete story right here.
Until Monday,
Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: [email protected]
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet publication right here.
Joe Abrams curated the offers part of at this time’s publication.
VENTURE DEALS
– Modular, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based A.I. software program improvement platform, raised $100 million in funding. General Catalyst led the spherical and was joined by present traders.
– Gympass, a New York City-based company wellness platform, raised $85 million in Series F funding. EQT Growth led the spherical and was joined by Neuberger Berman.
– LemFi, a Oakland, Calif.-based digital banking service platform for immigrants dwelling in North America and Europe, raised $33 million in Series A funding. Left Lane Capital led the spherical and was joined by Y Combinator, Zrosk, Global Founders Capital, and Olive Tree.
– Ikigai Labs, a San Francisco-based A.I. spreadsheet platform designed to automate analytics workflows, raised $25 million in funding. Premji Invest led the spherical and was joined by Foundation Capital and e& capital.
– Cypago, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of a platform that helps organizations undertake, implement, and preserve safety requirements, raised $13 million in funding. Entrée Capital, Axon Ventures, and Jump Capital led the spherical and had been joined by Ariel Maislos, Prof. Ehud Weinstein, and Ofir Shalvi.
– Panobi, a San Francisco-based progress platform for product and advertising and marketing groups, raised $5 million in seed funding. Index Ventures led the spherical and was joined by Stewart Butterfield, Cal Henderson, and others.
– Raleon, a Wilmington, N.C.-based web3 engagement platform, raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Blockchange led the spherical and was joined by Play Ventures, Alliance DAO, and Portal Ventures.
– Lex, a Los Angeles-based A.I.-powered writing platform, raised $2.75 million in seed funding. True Ventures led the spherical.
– Weekday, a San Francisco-based recruiting and networking platform for software program engineers, raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Venture Highway led the spherical and was joined by others.
PRIVATE EQUITY
– Blue Star Innovation Partners acquired a majority stake in PlayMetrics, a Morrisville, N.C.-based supplier of operations administration software program for youth sports activities organizations. Financial phrases weren’t disclosed.
– PAI Partners agreed to amass Alphia, a Denver, Colo.-based pet meals producer. Financial phrases weren’t disclosed.
– Roark Capital Group agreed to amass Subway, a Milford, Conn.-based restaurant chain. Financial phrases weren’t disclosed.
– The Purple Guys, a portfolio firm of Kian Capital Partners, acquired Advantex, a Dallas, Tex.-based IT consulting agency, and Herrod Technology, an Arlington, Tex.-based IT service supplier. Financial phrases weren’t disclosed.
OTHER
– Churchill Downs acquired Exacta Systems, a Boynton Beach, Fla.-based developer of digital gaming methods for historic horse racing, for $250 million in money.
IPOS
– VNG, a Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based gaming, communications, and media startup, filed to go public within the U.S. Tencent, GIC Asset Management, Temasek, and Ant Group again the corporate.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
– Questa Capital Management, a Washington D.C.-based enterprise capital agency, raised $397 million for a 3rd fund centered on healthcare providers, tech, and medical gadget businesses.
PEOPLE
– Capstreet, a Houston, Tex.-based non-public fairness agency, promoted Chas Richard to principal. Formerly, he was with Barclays.
