SpaceX alums are working to raise a hefty $550M first deep tech fund

Interlagos, the venture capital firm started by former senior SpaceX leaders, is looking to raise $550 million for its first venture fund, according to regulatory filings and a confidential deck sent to prospective LPs and viewed by TechCrunch. 

The existence of the firm was first reported by TechCrunch in April, but almost nothing has been publicly disclosed about its prospective investment thesis — until now. El Segundo-based Interlagos is broadly targeting startups across “deep tech” sectors, someone familiar with the firm’s plans said. The firm will provide capital from inception through Series B, with the targeted $550 million to be deployed across 26-32 investments, the deck says.

It’s a massive target for a first-time fund, which the team recognizes. “We are sized to lead and be persistent capital partners to leading companies,” the pitch deck says.

While the filing does not yet list how much money the partners have secured to date, a source familiar with the matter says that the firm has made a first close for a chunk of that $550M target. Prospective LPs are no doubt drawn to the bona fides of the founding team, which includes Achal Upadhyaya, who was a senior engineer at SpaceX for a decade before leading investments in space and defense at Cantos Ventures; Tom Ochinero, a former high-ranking SpaceX executive who left the company in March after a ten-year stint; and Spencer Hemphill, Interlagos’ CFO who was a former Sequoia finance leader. 

The general partners will also have their own skin in the game — which is a common structure for VC firms. They have each pledged to invest a 2% general partner “commit”, the deck says, which refers to their own personal money they will commit to the fund as investors. The rest of the fund’s terms look industry standard as well: 2% management fees, 20-25% carry meaning how much the fund will keep of its returns, pursuit of deals that will give it 18-25% stakes in the startups it backs.

Ochinero, who reported directly to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, was “personally responsible for over a billion dollars of annual revenue” at the company, according to a bio published in 2023. Upadhyaya in particular has a sweeping track record into deep tech startups as an angel and VC, according to the deck: He led the first investments into unmanned defense systems startup Neros Technologies and quantum mechanics startup SoloPulse, and the seed rounds into Shinkei Systems and Pilgrim, in his role at Cantos. His personal investments include Base Power, composites startup Layup, and Oxide Computer.

Upadhyaya did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment by publication time. 

Deep tech, a umbrella term that can include sectors like space, manufacturing, robotics, biotech, AI and more, has seen a surge of VC interest in recent years. Deep tech companies require more upfront capital and tend to have longer exit timelines, which has led to an increase in specialist funds, often composed of technical partners. But still, if Interlagos manages to raise the full targeted amount, it would make it an exception to the recent downturn in VC that has made raising capital harder. It will also likely set the firm up to successfully compete against mega-funds like Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz, which have aggressively moved into the earliest stages in deep tech VC deals.