Jack Selby uses Arizona connections to secure stakes in hot startups like Etched
Thiel Capital's Jack Selby, leveraging his ties to Arizona, invested in Nvidia rival Etched by promising to help the startup move chip production to TSMC's Arizona facility.
Jack Selby, a former PayPal executive and longtime managing director of Peter Thiel's family office Thiel Capital, founded venture firm Copper Sky Capital (formerly AZ-VC) in 2021. The firm's first $115 million fund focused primarily on startups based in Arizona and the Southwest, as Selby believes coastal companies in California, Massachusetts, and New York are often overpriced. However, he saw an opportunity to bridge the gap by helping hardware startups move their manufacturing to Arizona.
One of Copper Sky's standout investments is Etched, a four-year-old Nvidia competitor valued at $5 billion. Etched recently announced that TSMC had manufactured its first chip earlier this year, and the startup is preparing to ship systems powered by that chip later this summer. Scaling production, however, remains a challenge as Etched must compete for limited capacity at TSMC's Taiwan factories. Copper Sky hopes the chipmaker will eventually produce chips at TSMC's Arizona facility.
When Copper Sky participated in Etched's $120 million Series A round two years ago, Selby secured the allocation in part by promising to help the startup reshore its chip fabrication to Arizona. Selby, who serves on the board of the Arizona Commerce Authority, is deeply involved in recruiting out-of-state businesses to set up manufacturing in the region. “When Copper Sky invested with Etched, the company clearly understood our connectivity to the Arizona semiconductor industry, and in particular the local TSMC GIGAFAB,” Selby told TechCrunch.
While Copper Sky has recently expanded its focus beyond the Southwest to include nontraditional venture hubs nationwide, Selby said the firm is also interested in backing hardware companies, including defense-sector firms, that can set up manufacturing in Arizona. According to a regulatory filing, Copper Sky is currently raising a $300 million second fund, which would provide more capital to invest in higher-priced coastal startups and other U.S. companies.
