Thiel Capital's Jack Selby Backs Nvidia Rival Etched
07 Jul 2026
Jack Selby has spent years operating in Peter Thiel's orbit — first at PayPal, then as longtime managing director of Thiel Capital, Thiel's family office. Since 2021, he's also been running his own shop: Copper Sky Capital, an Arizona-based venture firm formerly known as AZ-VC. One of its highest-profile bets so far is Etched, a four-year-old AI chip startup now valued at $5 billion that positions itself as a direct Nvidia competitor.
The Etched bet
Copper Sky invested in Etched's $120 million Series A two years ago. Since then, the startup's profile has risen sharply — it's now valued at $5 billion despite not yet having shipped its chip systems to customers. Earlier this year, Etched announced that TSMC had manufactured its first chip, and the company is reportedly getting ready to ship systems powered by that chip to customers later this summer.
That timeline — first chip fabricated, systems not yet shipped — puts Etched at a pivotal but unproven stage. Competing directly with Nvidia, the dominant force in AI chips, is itself a signal of ambition and risk: the startup will need to prove both technical performance and market adoption before its $5 billion valuation is validated by revenue or customer traction.
Copper Sky's growth trajectory
Selby's firm is scaling alongside its bets. Copper Sky's first fund raised $115 million; it's now raising a second fund targeting $300 million. That fund is still being raised, so its progress or close date isn't yet confirmed. If it closes near target, it would represent a significant jump in capital available for Copper Sky to deploy into future rounds.
Beyond his fund, Selby also sits on the board of the Arizona Commerce Authority, adding a regional-institutional dimension to his investing profile. The report doesn't detail how these Arizona ties specifically shaped the Etched investment or others, but the overlap between operator pedigree, family-office backing, and regional institutional roles is notable.
What's still unclear
Several important details remain unreported: the size of Copper Sky's stake in Etched, any realized returns, Etched's revenue or customer base, and how its chip performance compares to Nvidia's offerings. It's also unclear which other startups Selby has backed through Copper Sky, and how he balances his roles across Thiel Capital, Copper Sky, and the Arizona Commerce Authority.
Why founders should care
- Regional capital may be more viable than assumed. Copper Sky's presence in Arizona, backed by an operator with deep Silicon Valley ties, suggests founders outside coastal hubs may increasingly find credible institutional funding paths closer to home.
- More capital could be coming online. Copper Sky's move from a $115 million first fund toward a targeted $300 million second fund likely signals more dry powder for its target sectors in the near term, though the raise isn't finalized.
- Hardware appetite persists, but so does risk. Investors backing an Nvidia challenger at a $5 billion valuation before commercial shipping suggests continued investor willingness to fund capital-intensive, long-horizon hardware bets — but Etched's unshipped product underscores that such bets remain unproven until real customer adoption materializes.
Founders building in AI hardware or adjacent capital-intensive categories may want to watch how Etched's shipping timeline plays out this summer, as it could serve as an early proof point — or cautionary tale — for the broader thesis that regional, operator-led venture firms can meaningfully compete for high-stakes hardware deals.