Lachy Groom
Lachy Groom | |
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| Occupations | Entrepreneur, angel investor, technology executive |
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Lachy Groom is an Australian entrepreneur, angel investor, and technology executive. He is the founder of the investment firm LGF and a co‑founder of the robotics company Physical Intelligence.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
Groom was born in Perth, Western Australia. At 11-years-old, he started learning to code in HTML/CSS and founded several online businesses before reaching adulthood.These included PSDtoWP, a service that converted Photoshop files to WordPress sites, and iPadCaseFinder, a platform for locating iPad cases. He also founded PAGGStack.com, an e-commerce website for nutritional supplements, as well as CardNap, a marketplace for reselling discount gift cards, and TheWP.co, a WordPress development service. Several of his early ventures, including PSDtoWP and iPadCaseFinder, were sold while he was still a teenager.[4][5]
Career
Stripe
After graduating from high school, Groom joined Stripe, a financial technology company, as its 30th employee. He worked on product, growth, and operations functions, and served as the Head of Issuing. He also led Stripe's international expansion into Singapore, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.[6][7]
Angel investing and LGF
Following his departure from Stripe, Groom became an angel investor. He is the founder and sole general partner of LGF, an investment firm. He has backed early-stage technology companies that later achieved significant valuations, including Figma, Notion, Ramp, and Lattice.[8]
In 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that Groom was raising a second fund, LGF II, targeting approximately $100 million, following a first fund of $48 million. His second fund led investments in startups including enterprise software firm WorkOS and video and audio developer platform Daily.[9][7]
In 2021, Groom raised $250 million for the third fund. The third fund’s first investment was in Boston-based Blues Wireless, which connects cellular devices to the cloud. Groom co-led the $22 million round, announced in March 2022, with Sequoia Capital.[10][11]
Physical Intelligence
Groom co‑founded Physical Intelligence, a robotics company based in San Francisco focused on developing machine learning models for robotic systems. The company’s research aims to enable robots to generalize tasks across multiple hardware platforms and environments. Physical Intelligence has received funding from venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Thrive Capital.[1][12]
References
- ^ a b Loizos, Connie (2026-01-31). "A peek inside Physical Intelligence, the startup building Silicon Valley's buzziest robot brains". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2026-03-15.
- ^ Pownell, Angela (2012-10-18). "Teen web entrepreneur makes mark". The West Australian. Retrieved 2026-03-15.
- ^ Clark, Kate (2022). "Solo Venture Capitalists Go Big". The Information (website). Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ^ Lee, Terence (2012). "Australia's startup wunderkind Lachy Groom on the next big thing, tips for success, and building credibility". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2026-03-15.
- ^ Nichols, Brian. "Lachy Groom Investments: How Stripe's Former Executive Became One of the Best Angel Investors in Tech | Hustle Fund". Hustle fund vc. Retrieved 2026-03-15.
- ^ Chernova, Yuliya (2020-05-19). "Lachy Groom Raising About $100 Million for Second Fund". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2026-03-15.
- ^ a b Cheng, Candy. "Meet the Stripe mafia: These 14 former employees are raising millions for their own startups, from climate tech to a Slack competitor". Business Insider. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ^ Jin, Berber (2021). "Solo VC Lachy Groom Raises $250 Million for Third Fund". The Information (website). Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ^ "VC Daily: Asia Venture Deals Rebound; Former Stripe Exec Lachy Groom Raising Second Fund; Rallybio Raises $145 Million". Wall Street Journal. 2020-05-20. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ^ Konrad, Alex (2024). "Why OpenAI's Sam Altman And Investor Lachy Groom Are Doubling Down On This Internet Startup". Forbes.
- ^ Torrence, Vishal Persaud, Ben Bergman, Julia Hornstein, Leena Rao, Melia Russell, Samantha Stokes, Rebecca (2025). "The Seed 100: The best early-stage investors of 2025". Business Insider. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Locke, Brian (2024). "Physical Intelligence, Stripe veteran Lachy Groom's latest bet, is building Silicon Valley's buzziest robot brains". National Today.
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