Facts (19)
Data Freshness
Fresh
Last update: 0d ago · Avg age: 444d
Confidence Tiers:
Primary Source — cross-referenced government/corporate filings
Pending Review — sourced but not independently verified
AI Inference — analytical hypothesis from cross-referencing
Documented Records (12)
Sourced from government databases, press reports, and corporate filings. Not yet independently verified.
Primary Source
1517 Fund's name references Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517) — explicitly framing universities/credentialing institutions as the modern Catholic Church selling 'indulgences' (degrees).
Primary Source
Co-founder Michael Gibson published 'Paper Belt on Fire: How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University' (Encounter Books, November 2022), with a back-cover endorsement from Peter Thiel.
Partially Corroborated
Notable portfolio companies include Luminar Technologies, Loom, Figma (via Thiel Fellowship lineage), Lambda, Deepgram, nTop, and Cents.
Partially Corroborated
Initial check sizes range from $50,000 (idea/R&D stage) to $1,000,000 (deep-tech seed), with average pre-seed check ~$400,000.
Partially Corroborated
The fund operates four flagship funds plus 15+ Special Purpose Vehicles with over $175 million in committed capital and has invested in 100+ portfolio companies.
Primary Source
1517 Fund II GP, LLC lists business address 5519 McMillan Street, Oakland, CA 94618; Strachman and Gibson are the named executive officers/managing members of the General Partner.
Primary Source
1517 Fund II, L.P. filed Form D with the SEC for a pooled investment fund (Venture Capital Fund) claiming Section 3(c)(1) exemption; March 25, 2019 filing reported $40,000,000 offering with $18,950,000 sold, target raise up to $50,000,000, 49 investors.
Partially Corroborated
Danielle Strachman led design and operations of the Thiel Fellowship from 2010 before co-founding 1517; she previously founded the Innovations Academy charter school in San Diego.
Partially Corroborated
Michael Gibson previously served as Vice President of Grants at the Thiel Foundation and as a principal at Thiel Capital, where he contributed research to Thiel's global macro hedge fund and helped teach a Stanford Law course on sovereignty and technological change.
Partially Corroborated
Peter Thiel personally backs the 1517 Fund, which is described as extending support originally granted by the Thiel Fellowship.
Primary Source
1517 Fund was founded in 2015 by Danielle Strachman and Michael Gibson, both prior cofounders of the Thiel Fellowship (launched 2010).
Partially Corroborated
1517 Fund filed filing with the SEC on 2020-11-23. Accession number: N/A.
Raw Filing Records (7) — unsourced metadata
Pending Review
1517 Fund I GP, LLC listed its principal place of business as 5519 McMillan Street, Oakland, California in its initial SEC Form D filing.
Date: 2015
Added: 02 May 2026
UNVERIFIED SEC FORM D - 1517 Fund I, L.P.
Pending Review
Michael Gibson published the book 'Paper Belt on Fire' in November 2022 via Encounter Books, detailing the firm's thesis of 'shorting the higher education bubble' with an endorsement from Peter Thiel.
Date: 2022-11-29
Added: 02 May 2026
UNVERIFIED Paper Belt on Fire - Encounter Books
Pending Review
The firm operates four flagship funds and over 15 Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), managing more than $175 million in committed capital.
Added: 02 May 2026
UNVERIFIED 1517 Fund - Backing Dropouts, Students & SciFi Science
Pending Review
Peter Thiel provided a $4 million initial commitment on the spot for 1517's debut $20 million fund (Fund I).
Date: 2015-06
Added: 02 May 2026
UNVERIFIED Protestant Capital
Pending Review
The fund's name references the year 1517 when Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, explicitly equating modern university degrees to the Catholic Church's sale of indulgences.
Added: 02 May 2026
UNVERIFIED 1517 Fund — Investment Thesis & Preferences
Pending Review
1517 Fund was established in 2015 by Danielle Strachman and Michael Gibson, who previously led the design and operations of the Thiel Fellowship.
Date: 2015
Added: 02 May 2026
UNVERIFIED SEC FORM D - 1517 Fund I, L.P.
Pending Review
Gibson publicly claims 1517 Fund's returns place it 'in the top one or two percent of all funds in its class.'
Added: 30 Apr 2026
All Connections (3)
contractor
secondary
Listed as one of the most frequent co-investors in 1517 Fund's portfolio companies.
donor
secondary
Backs the fund as an investor/anchor LP per multiple secondary sources (Wikipedia, Investorlist).
employed_by
primary
Michael Gibson was a principal at Thiel Capital before founding 1517.
Sources (18)
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UNVERIFIED Paper Belt on Fire - Encounter Books
external_handoff
Processed
2026-03-15
UNVERIFIED Protestant Capital
external_handoff
Processed
2026-04-16
UNVERIFIED 1517 Fund — Investment Thesis & Preferences
external_handoff
Processed
—
UNVERIFIED 1517 Fund - Backing Dropouts, Students & SciFi Science
external_handoff
Processed
2015
UNVERIFIED SEC FORM D - 1517 Fund I, L.P.
external_handoff
Processed
2026-04-23
UNVERIFIED SEARCH_ERROR: 1517 Fund not found in opencorporates
claim_flag
Processed
Goblin House