Chamath Palihapitiya Announces $135 Million Funding, Rare CEO Title For 8090: ‘AI Can Be The Grand Equalizer’

Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya is best known to many investors for his love of SPACs and for bringing several companies public via reverse mergers, including Virgin Galactic, a space company he previously served as chairman of.

Palihapitiya announced funding for an AI-related company he co-founded and explained why he is serving as CEO.

Chamath Palihapitiya the CEO A look at Palihapitiya’s biography or resume will reveal his many roles and titles across companies like AOL, Facebook and Social Capital.

Most often serving in board roles since leaving Facebook, Palihapitiya is the CEO of Social Capital.

He can now add CEO of 8090 Labs to his resume, announcing via social media his new job title alongside news the company completed a $135 million Series A funding.

According to a tweet from Palihapitiya, 8090 works with the "most demanding customers" across regulated industries like healthcare, insurance, life sciences, aerospace, energy, manufacturing, financial services and the U.S. government. "We help them win by using our AI-enabled Software Factory to design and build entire new systems, refactor old ones, and find and accelerate their edge," Palihapitiya said.

The investor said 8090 will partner with the greatest companies that exist and find new leaders to build new things with. "I’ve never felt this much energy." Palihapitiya used the post to announce that he is "back to work" and serving as CEO of 8090 rather than operating the company from the board of directors. "This is one of those rare moments when the technological ground is moving so ferociously underneath all of us that the decisions made in the next few years will set the stage for the next twenty.

AI can be the grand equalizer." Palihapitiya said he has been "waiting for a moment like this" to return to a full-time operator role since leaving Facebook. "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." Read Also: Chamath Palihapitiya Compares SpaceX IPO To 529-Year-Old Event: 'Largest Opportunities Are Still Ahead' 8090 Labs Series A A $135 million Series A funding round will be used to hire more people and to invest in the compute and infrastructure to help with the company’s growth, Palihapitiya said.

Investors in the funding round include Salesforce Ventures, a unit of Salesforce (NYSE: CRM ), WNDR, Craft Ventures, The Production Board and LAUNCH.

Investments also came from angel investors listed as Nikesh Arora, Cliff Robbins, Adam D’Angel, Shyam Ravindran, Abhi Arun and Thomas Laffont by the CEO. "We’re grateful for their support.

It validates 8090’s mission and traction so far, but mostly it accelerates the work ahead." Palihapitiya’s "All-In Podcast" co-founders are supporting the new venture with Craft Ventures from David Sacks, The Production Board from David Friedberg and Launch from Jason Calacanis.

The four co-hosts all being investors in 8090 could lead to mentions of the company on the popular podcast.

Read Also: Chamath Palihapitiya Says A 'Digital Super-God' Is Coming For Tech Stocks—And Could Expose A Debt Bomb Photo: CarlaVanWagoner / Shutterstock.com