Child prodigy, former Stripe executive, top investor, Stripe's 30th employee, and co-founder of AI robotics company Physical Intelligence—these are the labels of 31-year-old Australian Lachy Groom.
Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
When a $4.4 million mansion in San Francisco was robbed by an armed assailant disguised as a delivery person, resulting in the theft of $11 million worth of cryptocurrency, the bizarre case drew attention not only for the skilled robber but also unexpectedly put homeowner Lachy Groom in the spotlight.
According to sources from the New York Post, a police insider and acquaintances of Sam Altman, an armed robber disguised as a delivery person rang the doorbell of the residence. The direct victim at home during the robbery was Joshua—Lachy Groom's roommate and business partner. The robber tricked Joshua into opening the door under the pretense of signing for a package and borrowing a pen, then pulled out a gun to take control of the situation.
The next 90 minutes were a nightmare: Joshua was bound with tape, beaten, and on the phone, accomplices read out his personal information to extort him. Ultimately, the robber forced Joshua to operate his cryptocurrency wallet, stealing approximately $11 million worth of Ethereum and Bitcoin, along with his phone and laptop.
The case instantly ignited public discourse due to the homeowner's identity—Sam Altman's ex-boyfriend. The New York Post reported that property records show Lachy Groom purchased the house on Dorland Street for $1.8 million from Sam Altman's brother in 2021, and he was once a close partner of the ChatGPT creator.
While news headlines labeled Lachy Groom as "ChatGPT boss Sam Altman's ex-boyfriend," if you think Lachy Groom is merely "the man who once stood behind Altman," you are gravely mistaken.
A photo of Sam Altman and Lachy Groom posted on Facebook in 2014.
The two attended the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Idaho in 2018, source: Getty Images
Putting aside the gossip and unfortunate robbery, if you look at Lachy Groom's resume, you'll find that even without Sam Altman's "halo," his life story is enough to make 99% of entrepreneurs "kneel" in admiration.
Child prodigy, former Stripe executive, top investor, Stripe's 30th employee, and co-founder of AI robotics company Physical Intelligence—these are the labels of 31-year-old Australian Lachy Groom. He also made bold investments in Figma, Notion, and Ramp when they were still under the radar.
Today, we will take this "robbery" incident as a starting point to delve into the story of this "genius hunter" from Perth, Australia.
Starting from a Small Australian Town: Not Wanting to Go to School, Just Wanting to Make Money
Born in Perth, Australia, Lachy Groom clearly follows the "model child" script.
According to reports from The West Australian and SmartCompany in 2012, Lachy Groom is a bona fide "teenage geek."
Started at age 10: His grandfather taught him web programming languages HTML and CSS, and he became obsessed with coding.
From ages 13 to 17, he founded and sold three companies: PSDtoWP, PAGGStack.com, and iPadCaseFinder.com.
Lachy Groom's fourth startup, Cardnap, allowed users to search for discounted gift cards and resell their own gift cards.
In an interview with The West Australian, Lachy Groom's father, Geoff Groom, recalled that Lachy Groom had an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, making money by walking dogs for others and setting up a lemonade stand with friends, always finding ways to earn pocket money and spot business opportunities.
After graduating high school, Lachy Groom was very clear-headed; he didn't believe traditional university education could teach him what he wanted. Thus, this young man made a life-changing decision: to go to the United States, to San Francisco, to the place closest to the heart of the internet.
Why? Because 17-year-old Lachy saw a harsh reality: Australia's entrepreneurial ecosystem couldn't compare to San Francisco and Silicon Valley. More importantly, he discovered a cold business truth: "Valuations are much higher in the U.S."
Joining the Elite Circle of the Stripe Mafia
After arriving in the U.S., Lachy Groom didn't rush to become a VC; instead, he joined a company that was still in its growth phase—Stripe. It turned out to be not just a job but a ticket to the power center of Silicon Valley.
Lachy Groom's LinkedIn profile shows that he was the 30th employee at Stripe, initially working in growth, then managing the global business development and operations team, and participating in Stripe's expansion in Singapore, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, later also overseeing Stripe's card issuance business.
During Lachy Groom's seven years at Stripe (2012-2018), he witnessed the company's growth into a "Silicon Valley giant." This was not just work experience but a practical MBA course on "how to build scalable products in the internet age."
This experience provided him with three invaluable assets:
Financial freedom.
Rich operational experience accumulated at Stripe, giving him a deep understanding of how B2B SaaS can scale from zero to billions.
Due to his outstanding performance at Stripe, Lachy Groom later became an important member of the "Stripe Mafia." This circle of people later came to dominate nearly half of Silicon Valley's venture capital scene.
Transitioning to Solo Investor
In 2018, Lachy Groom made a bold decision to "go solo" and leave Stripe.
He didn't join a big-name fund but instead adopted a Solo Capitalist model, turning to full-time angel investing, and his investment approach is completely different from most angel investors.
Hustle Fund analyzed his "strategy": while most angel investors cast a wide net (investing in 100 companies, $5,000 each, and then praying a few succeed), Groom is a "sniper," willing to write checks from $100,000 to $500,000 for the right opportunities, and he makes decisions very quickly.
Lachy Groom's investment strategy can be summarized in one sentence: invest in tools that users or developers will love spontaneously, rather than software they are forced to use. Core investment principles include bottom-up adoption models, solving real workflow problems, and cautious yet meaningful investments.
According to PitchBook statistics, Lachy Groom has made 204 investments, with a portfolio of 122 companies, currently managing investments through multiple funds, known for his high hit rate, willingness to lead rounds, and heavy investments in B2B/SaaS. Here are some of the "stellar projects" he has invested in:
Design tool Figma: Lachy Groom invested in Figma's seed round in 2018 when it was valued at $94 million. On September 15, 2022, Adobe announced it would acquire Figma for about $20 billion, but the acquisition agreement was terminated in 2023. Figma then pursued an IPO route, listing on the New York Stock Exchange on July 31, 2025, with a market cap soaring to $67.6 billion, currently down to $17.5 billion. Based on the current market cap, Lachy Groom's investment yielded a 185x return.
Note-taking software Notion: Lachy Groom was one of the lead investors in Notion in 2019, when it was valued at $800 million. Just two years later (in 2021), Notion's valuation rapidly reached $10 billion. According to CNBC's report this September, Notion's annual revenue surpassed $500 million.
Multinational fintech company Ramp: Lachy Groom participated in Ramp's seed round financing.
Talent management platform Lattice: Lachy Groom made early investments in this company when it was still exploring product-market fit (around 2016-2017).
We can see Lachy Groom's investment logic: invest in products that can reshape the way we work, invest in young people who, like him back in the day, are eager to change the world.
Next Stop: Equipping Robots with "Brains"
Having made enough money in software, Lachy Groom turned his attention to a more hardcore field.
With the advent of the AI era, Lachy Groom began to ponder a bigger question: if the boundaries between AI and hardware become blurred, where will the next internet-scale innovation occur? The answer is: bringing general AI into the physical world.
In March 2024, he was no longer satisfied with being a behind-the-scenes investor and co-founded the robotics company Physical Intelligence (Pi) with several top-tier scientists.
The co-founder lineup of Physical Intelligence is impressive:
Karol Hausman: Formerly a senior research scientist at Google DeepMind and also a part-time professor at Stanford University.
Chelsea Finn: Formerly a member of the Google Brain team, currently an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford.
Adnan Esmail: Worked at Tesla for four years and served as Chief Architect and Senior Vice President of Engineering at the U.S. defense technology company Anduril Industries.
Brian Ichter: Former research scientist at Google DeepMind and Google Brain.
The company's goal sounds very sci-fi: to develop a general foundational model as the "brain" of robots, transforming them from mere machines that can screw in bolts to intelligent agents capable of adapting to complex environments like humans. Lachy Groom has stated that the uniqueness of Physical Intelligence lies in its aim to develop software applicable to various robotic hardware.
The capital market is also going crazy for this "dream team." In the month of its establishment, Physical Intelligence completed a seed round financing of up to $70 million, led by Thrive Capital, with follow-on investments from Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, OpenAI, and Sequoia Capital.
Just seven months later, in November 2024, Physical Intelligence completed another $400 million financing, led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, venture capital firms Thrive Capital and Lux Capital, with other investors including OpenAI, Redpoint Ventures, and Bond.
Just a week ago (November 21), Physical Intelligence completed another $600 million financing, bringing the company's valuation to $5.6 billion. Alphabet's independent growth fund CapitalG led this round of financing, with existing investors Lux Capital, Thrive Capital, and Jeff Bezos continuing to participate.
Summary
From the boy in Perth, Australia, who was coding in elementary school, to breaking into the core team of Stripe without attending college, to now being a Silicon Valley mogul holding hefty checks while building AI robots. Lachy Groom has proven with his strength that his life story is far more exciting than the tabloid label of "Altman's ex-boyfriend."
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