Thrive Capital

Joshua Kushner founded Thrive Capital in 2010, at 24 years old.^[5][6][7][1] Joel Cutler and General Catalyst provided the initial $5 million in seed money for the firm in 2010 as well as introduced investors to the firm and Kushner.^[7]

In 2011, the firm launched its first institutional fund, raising another $40 million from Princeton University, Wellcome Trust, Peter Thiel and other investors.^[5][6][7] General Catalyst served as the core LP yet again for this second funding round.^[1]

Following the 2016 United States presidential election, Jared Kushner was appointed as Senior Advisor to the President.^[8] Jared sold his entire Thrive Capital stake to avoid conflict of interest between him and the Trump administration.^[9][10][11]

In May 2021, Petershill Partners had invested around $120 million in Thrive Capital for a 3% stake,^[6][12] which valued the firm at $3.6 billion.^[6][12] In September 2021, the firm registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.^[13] The firm stated as part of its regulatory filing that it planned to use some funds to investment in public companies and crypto assets.^[13] The same year, ten of Thrive's portfolio companies went public, including Affirm and Nubank.^[1] In 2022, Nitin Nohria was brought on as the firm's first executive chair.^[1]

In January 2023, a group of five investors, Bob Iger, Mukesh Ambani, Henry Kravis, Xavier Niel and Jorge Paulo Lemann, acquired a 3.3% stake of Thrive Capital.^[14][15] This put Thrive at a $5.3 billion valuation - a 50% increase from when Goldman Sachs paid $175 million for the same stake in 2021.^[1] Thrive then raised $1.8 billion in March 2023 to invest into Stripe at a $50 billion valuation.^[16]

Thrive announced in August 2024 that it raised over $5 billion for Thrive IX, its biggest-ever set of funds and among the “largest completed this year by a venture firm.” The funds will be split between a $4 billion late-stage investment fund and a $1 billion fund dedicated to early-stage ventures.^[16]

In October 2024, Thrive led a $6.6 billion funding round for OpenAI, contributing $1 billion; OpenAI’s valuation consequently increased to $157 billion.^[17][18]

The firm is noted for being an early investor in several high-profile technology platforms such as Instagram, GitHub, Spotify and Twitch, Physical Intelligence, and Anysphere.^[6][7] Thrive has also invested in Scale AI, A24, Stripe, Airtable, Glossier, Plaid, Anduril, Ramp, and Databricks.^{[1][19][20][21][22][23]}

In November 2024, Financial Times detailed how Thrive’s strategy is “investing heavily in fewer companies [to] provide a closer relationship with founders and more visibility into companies”; the firm is able to simultaneously “remain faithful to early-stage investing” while also participating in growth and late stage investments.^[21]

As of 2024, Thrive has raised a total of $12.3bn, and has almost $25bn under management.^[21]