Flexport founder Ryan Petersen has joined enterprise capital agency Founders Fund as a companion, as reported by Forbes earlier right this moment.
Founders Fund confirmed the transfer to TechCrunch, offering the next assertion from Normal Accomplice Trae Stephens: “We’ve at all times struggled to outline the quintessential Founders Fund founder. Clearly, it’s Ryan. We’re thrilled to welcome him to the staff.”
Petersen — who stepped down as CEO of Flexport final August — himself acknowledged the transfer on Twitter, with a tweet saying:
I’ve joined Founders Fund. In case you are somebody who’s out to get revenge after having been wronged by a earlier employer or investor, a French technical founder who fled socialism to construct your organization in America, or a Christ-like determine of any form, please get in contact.
Petersen additionally advised TechCrunch through electronic mail: “I by no means considered turning into a VC. After I moved to the chairman function a dozen or so VC companies reached out to me, however I didn’t entertain any of them moreover Founders Fund. They’re tremendous aligned with me each in my need to proceed to help Flexport with as a lot of my power as I can and with their general philosophy of backing founders all the way in which. The staff right here modified the course of VC historical past by upending the earlier mannequin the place VCs would search to switch the founder with a extra seasoned CEO. Founders Fund doesn’t get sufficient credit score for his or her function in altering the tradition of the broader VC world. I’m excited to work with our portfolio founders, each new and current, to assist them construct and run generational firms.”
Petersen based Flexport, a logistics startup that raised $2.4 billion in funding since its 2013 inception, in accordance with Crunchbase. Founders Fund was an early investor within the firm, which final raised in February of 2022 — a $935 million Collection E co-led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and MSD Companions that valued the corporate at $8 billion. Founders Fund participated in that spherical as nicely.
The brand new function gained’t be an enormous leap for Petersen contemplating that through the years, he has backed as an angel investor over 100 startups, similar to Rippling, Mercury, Faire, Eight Sleep, Carta and Pulley. He shall be based mostly in San Francisco and make investments as a “generalist” for Founders Fund.
He wrote through electronic mail: “I’m all in favour of progressive firms no matter their stage or trade.”
Petersen and his brother, David, got here up with the thought for Flexport in 2008 after they have been working ImportGenius.com. Petersen then went via Y Combinator within the Winter 2013 batch. He transitioned into the function of government chairman on March 1.
Over time, Flexport was hailed for having the ability to develop so efficiently regardless of working in a decidedly unsexy trade. TechCrunch former reporter Josh Constine wrote this function about how Petersen and the corporate have been stepping up within the struggle in opposition to COVID. Utilizing freight software program it constructed, the full-service air, rail truck and ocean freight forwarder doubled income to $3.3 billion in 2021, transferring nearly $19 billion in gross merchandise via its platform. And Petersen advised the American Journal of Transportation in March that Flexport’s estimated 2022 income was $5 billion.
Final month, TechCrunch reported on Kaitlyn Glancy, who had spent greater than eight years with Flexport — the final 4 of them because the outfit’s vp of North America — asserting that she had joined the world of VC because the latest companion on the enterprise agency Eclipse.
Apparently, Founders Fund additionally final September reported that fintech startup Brex’s former chief income officer, Sam Blond, was turning into a companion at Founders Fund.
Reporter’s be aware: This story was up to date post-publication to incorporate feedback from Petersen and revised figures of the variety of firms he has invested in.
