Chamath Palihapitiya announced Monday that 8090 Labs, the AI coding startup he founded, has closed a $135 million Series A round — and that he will take on the role of CEO, stepping up from his previous position as a board member.
The round was led by Salesforce Ventures, with participation from Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo, David Sacks’ Craft Ventures, fellow All-In podcast hosts David Friedberg (The Production Board) and Jason Calacanis (Launch), and angel investors including Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo.
Palihapitiya founded 8090 Labs in January 2024. The company targets corporate programming teams with a product called Software Factory, which is designed to help enterprise coders use AI to build production-quality software. The company says the product goes beyond prototype-level output and includes enterprise controls such as audit trails.
Palihapitiya, best known for his venture capital firm Social Capital and the All-In podcast, announced the raise and his new operating role on X. He drew a parallel between the current AI landscape and the early days of social media, referencing his time as an executive at Facebook. “Since I left Facebook, I was waiting for a moment like this to return to a full-time operating role,” he wrote. “I am convinced that what we are building now is even more important, so there was no decision to make except to be all in.”
The funding round suggests continued investor appetite for AI coding tools, particularly those aimed at enterprise customers. With Palihapitiya now in the CEO seat, 8090 Labs moves from a founder-backed venture to one with its founder in direct operational control.
Source: TechCrunch