Former senior SpaceX govt Tom Ochinero is teaming up with SpaceX alum-turned-VC Achal Upadhyaya and one in all Sequoia’s high finance leaders, Spencer Hemphill, on a brand new enterprise known as Interlagos Capital, TechCrunch has realized.
There may be little public info accessible about Interlagos, and the trio didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s request for remark. The corporate was formally included within the state of Delaware on March 7, and it was registered as an out-of-state firm with 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 equivalent to the one discovered on the corporate’s enterprise registration. The applying states that the corporate will deal in “enterprise capital companies; enterprise capital funding companies, specifically, offering financing to rising and start-up corporations.”
Ochinero departed from SpaceX in February after an almost 10-year stint on the firm, the place he finally turned senior vp of business enterprise. In that position, he helped SpaceX develop into the undisputed international lead in business launch. Individuals acquainted with the matter advised CNBC on the time that Ochinero was resigning “to take care of a household 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 the funding agency Cantos as a enterprise companion in 2022. He left someday this 12 months, in response to 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 staff. He’s coming from Sequoia, the place he additionally spent 10 years. He departed someday this 12 months, leaving the agency as assistant controller.
Ochinero is simply the most recent SpaceX govt to maneuver from the behemoth area firm into enterprise investing. Individuals leaving SpaceX to discovered different corporations or spend money on them is common sufficient that there’s a web site devoted to connecting the 2 teams. 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 Altan.
