Joe Lonsdale
VCFounder & Managing Partner, 8VC
Palantir co-founder building enterprise and defense VC
Background
Joe Lonsdale co-founded Palantir Technologies in 2003 and has since founded or co-founded over a dozen companies including Addepar and OpenGov (sold for $1.8B). He founded 8VC in 2015, an early-stage venture firm managing over $6 billion in capital across more than 600 portfolio companies. In early 2025, 8VC was seeking nearly $1 billion for its sixth flagship fund. The firm operates both as a VC fund and internal venture studio, dedicating 25-30% of capital to co-founding startups via its Build program. Lonsdale is also founding chairman of the University of Austin and a board member of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
Investment Thesis
Invest in and co-found companies that use operational intelligence to transform defense, healthcare, logistics, and critical infrastructure; strong emphasis on dual-use and national capability companies.
Investment Focus
Stages
Typical check: $1M–$20M
Sectors
Based in: USA (Austin, TX; San Francisco, CA) (North America)
Notable Investments
Anduril
Defense technology unicorn; autonomous systems
Asana
Work management platform; NYSE: ASAN
Flexport
Digital freight forwarding and logistics
Guardant Health
Liquid biopsy; NASDAQ: GH
Joby Aviation
eVTOL air taxi; NYSE: JOBY
Oscar Health
Consumer health insurance; NYSE: OSCR
Illumio
Zero Trust network segmentation cybersecurity
Saronic
Autonomous maritime defense vessels; valued ~$3B