Keith Rabois
Keith Rabois is an American executive and investor, known for his early-stage startup investments and executive roles at PayPal, LinkedIn, Square. He is considered a member of the “PayPal Mafia,” a group of former PayPal founders and executives (Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and others) who have continued to make waves in the tech world.
At least five companies that Rabois helped build are now publicly traded, and others were acquired for more than $1 billion. Rabois is currently a General Partner at Founders Fund and CEO of OpenStore.
About Keith Rabois
Early Years
Keith Rabois was born in Edison, NJ in 1969. He received a B.A. from Stanford University, where he met Peter Thiel, the future founder of PayPal. Rabois continued on to earn a J.D. from Harvard Law School and clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He also worked as an associate for the highly-regarded American multinational law firm Sullivan & Cromwell for three and a half years before getting into venture capital and tech companies.
Rabois has served on numerous boards of directors and held many executive positions in venture capital and tech firms, including:
- PayPal, 2000-2002: Executive Vice President, Business Development, Public Affairs, and Policy
- Epoch Innovations, 2003-2004: Chief Executive Officer
- LinkedIn, 2005-2007: Vice President for Business and Corporate Development
- Slide, 2007-2010: Executive Vice President
- Square, 2010-2013: Chief Operating Officer
- Khosla Ventures, 2013-2019: Managing Director
- Opendoor, 2014: Co-founder and Executive Chairman
- Founders Fund, 2019-present: General Partner
- Scribd, Xoom, Yelp, Reddit, Alliance of American Football: Board of Directors
Rabois’ expertise lies in several areas: identifying startups with high potential for success and then helping them raise funding and grow, either toward an exit or publicly traded IPO. In addition to raising venture capital, Rabois uses his vast experience to offer guidance and support to startups via boards of directors and other avenues.
Remarkable Investments
Keith Rabois is known as an individual or angel investor and has 59 portfolio companies and 38 exits. He has made 60 personal investments to date, focusing mainly on the seed stage, and nearly 100 partner investments.
Some of his investments include YouTube, Airbnb, Palantir, Lyft, Quora, Yammer, Skybox, Counsyl, Weebly, Wish, and Eventbrite.
In 2021, while at Founders Fund, Rabois co-founded OpenStore, a Miami-based startup that helps Shopify store owners sell their stores. The company raised $75 million at a $750 million valuation.
Keith Rabois News
In August 2022, Rabois led a round of funding via Founders Fund that raised $15 million for the men’s health company, Maximus. The company aims to optimize men’s health and hormone function by providing at-home lab testing and doctor-prescribed protocols.
The same month, he also led a seed round of investments, along with Kevin Hartz, for Pomelo, a company that wants to make international money transfers and remittance payments easier. The round raised $20 million.
Earlier this year, Founders Fund revealed that it closed more than $5 billion in two new funds, bringing the assets under its management to $11 billion .
More Investors from the Americas
Murray Edwards
Murray Edwards is a Canadian oil sands investor and businessman ranked by Forbes as one of the top 15 wealthiest people in Canada.
Jett Fein
Jett Fein is an American investor with major business interests across the globe. Read about his early years and business interests and find out more about significant investments he has been involved with.
Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn is a high profile American business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is listed as number 27 on Forbes’ ‘World’s Billionaires’ list (2017)
James Ahern
James “Jim” Ahern is the managing partner of Laidlaw & Company UK and the founder of Laidlaw Venture Partners (LVP).
Jocelyn Goldfein
Jocelyn Goldfein is the managing director at Zetta Venture Partners. Read more about her investments and ventures.
Paul Buchheit
Innovation and free thinking are guiding principles for Paul Buchheit. His work at Y Combinator and the many angel investments which he nurtures are a testimony to his application of these principles in daily life.
Julio Vasconcellos
Julio Vasconcellos is a Brazilian/American angel investor and entrepreneur focused on investments in eCommerce, SaaS and mobile industries.
Arya Bolurfrushan
Arya Bolurfrushan is an angel investor, focused mainly on seed stage investments. Based in New York, in the United States, Bolurfrushan is the Chief Executive Officer and member of the board at Bolurfrushan International, a global investment and insurance brokerage and philanthropic organization.
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Saverin, the Brazilian investor and entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook. Find out more about his life and read about the other significant investments he has made.