Palihapitiya raises $135M for AI coding startup 8090 Labs
Original: Chamath Palihapitiya raises $135M Series A for his AI coding startup, takes CEO role
Why This Matters
Enterprise AI coding agents represent a significant market opportunity, with major VC backing and executive commitment signaling sector maturity.
Chamath Palihapitiya's AI coding startup 8090 Labs closed a $135 million Series A funding round led by Salesforce Ventures. Palihapitiya will serve as CEO of the company, which was founded in January 2024 to provide AI coding agents for enterprise programming teams.
8090 Labs, founded by venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya in January 2024, announced a $135 million Series A funding round on June 29, 2026. The round was led by Salesforce Ventures and included participation from WndrCo (Jeffrey Katzenberg), Craft Ventures (David Sacks), The Production Board (David Friedberg), and Launch (Jason Calacanis). Additional investors include Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora and Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo as angel investors. The startup's product, Software Factory, is designed to help corporate programming teams use AI to build production-quality software with enterprise-grade controls including audit trails. With this funding announcement, Palihapitiya transitioned from board member to CEO role. In a statement on X, Palihapitiya compared the current AI expansion to the rise of social media during his early tenure as a Facebook executive, stating: "Since I left Facebook, I was waiting for a moment like this to return to a full-time operating role. 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."