Former senior SpaceX govt Tom Ochinero is teaming up with SpaceX alum-turned-VC, Achal Upadhyaya, and one in every of Sequoia’s prime finance leaders, Spencer Hemphill, on a brand new enterprise known as Interlagos Capital, TechCrunch has discovered.
There may be little public info obtainable about Interlagos, and the trio didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s request for remark. The corporate was formally integrated within the state of Delaware on March 7, and it was registered as an out-of-state firm with the state of California solely days in the past on April 11. Ochinero, Upadhyaya and Hemphill are all listed on the paperwork. The principal tackle is in El Segundo, California.
A trademark software for “Interlagos” was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Workplace on April 4. That software lists an tackle an identical to the one discovered on the corporate’s enterprise registration. The appliance states that the corporate will deal in “venture capital services; venture capital funding services, namely, providing financing to emerging and start-up companies.”
Ochinero departed from SpaceX in February after an almost ten-year stint on the firm, the place he ultimately grew to become senior vp of business enterprise. In that position, he helped SpaceX develop into the undisputed international lead in business launch. Individuals aware of the matter told CNBC at the time that Ochinero was resigning “to attend to a family medical matter.”
With Interlagos, he’s teaming up with one other SpaceX alum — Upadhyaya — who spent a decade in engineering roles at SpaceX earlier than becoming a member of funding agency Cantos as a enterprise companion in 2022. He left someday this yr, in accordance with his LinkedIn. At Cantos, Upadhyaya’s bets included satellite tv for pc bus producer Apex Area and movement management system developer Salient Movement, each startups headed by ex-SpaceX founders.
Spencer Hemphill, a finance govt, is rounding out the crew. He’s coming from Sequoia, the place he additionally spent ten years. He additionally departed someday this yr, leaving the agency as assistant controller.
Ochinero is simply the newest SpaceX govt to maneuver from the behemoth house firm into enterprise investing. It’s widespread sufficient for individuals to go away SpaceX to discovered different corporations or spend money on them that there’s a website dedicated to connecting the two groups. Different notable traders within the SpaceX-to-VC pipeline embody Founders Fund’s Scott Nolan, who was a really early SpaceX worker, and Alpine Area Ventures’ Bulent Alton.
