1517 Fund — Pre-Seed & Seed VC Firm
1517 Fund is a Pre-Seed, Seed venture capital firm investing in Other, Deep Tech, SaaS. The firm has 24 portfolio companies in our records.
- Portfolio
- 24 companies on record
- Partners
- 9 listed
- Stage
- Pre-Seed, Seed
- Sectors
- Other, Deep Tech, SaaS, Fintech, Developer Tools, Healthcare, Consumer
- Check size
- Not in our records
- AUM
- Not in our records
Last verified: 2026-08-31
Pre-Seed, Seed
24+ companies
9 partners
Investment Thesis
Early-stage fund backing founders outside traditional paths at pre-seed and seed, with a history of investing in developer tools, SaaS, and software platforms including in healthcare and consumer services.[10]
How 1517 Fund invests
1517 Fund is a vc firm. The firm invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages, with a focus on Other, Deep Tech, SaaS, Fintech, Developer Tools.
1517 Fund has backed 24 companies in our records, including Ethereum, Figma, OYO Rooms.
Partners & Team
Michael is co-founder and general partner at 1517. If the rust belt has come to define the hollowed-out industries of the Midwest, in the next ten years the paper belt will come to define the paper-based industries from Washington DC to Boston. In DC, they print money, visas, and laws on paper. In Delaware, companies incorporate on paper. In NYC, they print media on paper. And in Boston Harvard and MIT print diplomas on paper. Michael is dedicated to lighting the paper belt on fire.
Danielle Strachman
General Partner
She has worked with young entrepreneurs for about a decade. In 2010, during the founding of the Thiel Fellowship, Danielle joined to lead the design and operations. She’s worked with some of the most prestigious founders like Vitalik Buterin and Ritesh Agarwal. Previous to her work with Peter Thiel, Danielle founded and directed Innovations Academy in San Diego, a K-8 charter school serving 400 students, with a focus on student-led project based learning and other alternative programs.
Stephen Balaban
Founder and CEO
1517 believed in me first.
Ahva Sadeghi
Co-Founder and CEO
1517 Fund has empowered our team, and we are so fortunate to get to work with the most incredible investors! Danielle, Michael, Zak and the whole team are genuinely invested in our success and have been there to support us through the good and the challenging times. This is one of many reasons that 1517 Fund has cultivated an amazing group of founders in their portfolio.
Joe Thomas
Cofounder and CEO
Can’t honestly say Loom would be a company if it hadn’t been for their belief.
Peter Thiel
Co-Founder
Cofounded the Thiel Fellowship with 1517 Fund in 2010.
Industry Focus
Invests In
Portfolio Companies (24)
Other
Ethereum
Figma
OYO Rooms
Luminar
Lambda
Symba
Loom
A video communication platform that allows users to create and share quick, screen-recorded video messages.
Cloud seeding via drones that deliver the agents
Advanced laundry machine manufacturing company
Deep learning cloud & hardware
- •Raising at Pre-Seed, Seed? You're squarely in their sweet spot.
- •Lead with your fit in Other, Deep Tech, SaaS — the sectors they actively back.
- •cold outreach ok
- •Address your outreach to a specific partner, such as Danielle Thiel, Cofounder.
- •A warm introduction beats a cold email. Get matched and request an intro.
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