Chamath Palihapitiya, best known for his venture firm Social Capital and the All-In podcast, announced on Monday that his AI startup, 8090 Labs, has closed a $135 million Series A financing round.
The round was led by Salesforce Ventures and included participation from Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo; David Sacks’ Craft Ventures; Palihapitiya’s All-In co-hosts and friends David Friedberg (The Production Board) and Jason Calacanis (Launch); and angel investors such as Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, and Adam D’Angelo, CEO of Quora.
Palihapitiya founded 8090 Labs in January 2024 with the stated goal of building an AI coding agent tailored to corporate engineering teams. The company’s product, called Software Factory, is intended to help enterprise developers produce production-quality software with AI — not just prototype or “vibe-coded” outputs — while providing the enterprise-grade controls companies require, including audit trails.
Along with announcing the funding, Palihapitiya said on X that he will assume the role of chief executive officer and take an active operating role at the startup rather than remaining solely a board member. In his post he compared the current AI surge to the early days of social media during his tenure as an early executive at Facebook and wrote that since leaving Facebook he had been waiting for an opportunity to return to a full-time operating position. He added that he believes what the company is building is particularly important and that there was no decision to make except to be "all in."
The company has not provided further financial or operational detail in the announcement. The combination of a sizable Series A and a high-profile lead investor list signals strong investor interest in tools that bring AI into enterprise software development while preserving compliance and governance features.
Why this matters
A $135 million Series A led by an established strategic investor, together with participation from notable venture firms and executives, underscores investor conviction in enterprise-focused AI development platforms. Palihapitiya’s move back into an operational CEO role is likely to draw additional attention to 8090 Labs as it aims to deliver AI-driven, production-grade software workflows for corporate teams.
