Morning! This is Luisa Beltran, finance reporter, subbing for Allie.
Everyone likes a list. In 2023, Coins2Day created organizational charts showing the top executives at Elon Musk’s companies. This year, we updated those charts, and even added a fresh one for the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, the federal cost-cutting office that Musk is unofficially leading.
One theme became clear in building our charts. Musk, who has six companies, including Tesla, relies on several highly valued executives to help manage them. One of Musk’s top lieutenants is Steve Davis, an aerospace engineer who spent several years working at Musk’s space cargo business SpaceX before joining Musk’s tunneling startup The Boring Company in 2016. People who have worked with Davis think he can get any job done, no matter how seemingly unrealistic. After Musk closed his $44 billion Twitter acquisition in 2022, Davis, who is president of Boring, helped reorganize the social media company that is now known as X. (Nicole Hollander, Davis’s wife, also worked at Twitter.) See Coins2Day’s Boring chart here.
Davis, along with Hollander, are now helping with Musk’s latest initiative: DOGE. The mandate is to reduce the size of government and cut federal spending by $2 trillion. Like many things Musk, DOGE has gotten off to a quick start, playing a large role in laying off thousands of government workers, canceling contracts, and allegedly cutting billions of dollars in government spending.
As usual, several employees from Musk companies are helping with the governmental work including Jennifer Balajadia, operations coordinator at Boring Company; Riccardo Biasini, a former Tesla engineer who also worked at Boring; Ryan Riedel, a SpaceX engineer; and Brian Bjelde, a former NASA engineer who has spent 22 years at SpaceX.
Even an internship at a Musk company can help secure a job at DOGE. Two current members of the so-called “nerd squad”—Luke Farritor and Edward Coristine—interned at SpaceX or brain chip startup Neuralink. See the DOGE chart here.
SpaceX also has execs working elsewhere with Musk. There’s Riedel and Bjelde, who are at DOGE, while Charles Kuehmann also works at Tesla. Check out the SpaceX chart here.
But what of Tesla, Musk’s biggest company? Tesla’s fortunes have dimmed a little since late 2023 when Coins2Day first published its Musk charts. Tesla is no longer the world’s largest pure EV maker and the company in January said fourth-quarter automotive revenue had dropped 8% from the year before while operating income fell 23%, CNB C reported. Tesla’s shares in late 2024 had benefited from the “Trump Bump,” soaring to an all-time closing high of $479.86 in December. The stock has since plunged 45%, ending Thursday at $263.45. (Still, Tesla stock is up about 12% from November 2023 when we first ran the org charts.)
According to our chart, few if any Tesla execs appear to be moonlighting at other Musk companies. One of the exceptions is Omead Afshar, a top Tesla exec, who did work at SpaceX in late 2022. See the Tesla chart here.
With politics seeming to consume much of his time, Musk appears to have pulled back from directly leading X. (Musk is still very actively posting on it, however.) Linda Yaccarino remains X’s CEO, and last year the company announced several notable hires, including Mahmoud Reza Banki, as X’s CFO. Like Tesla, it doesn’t look like many X execs are working at other Musk companies—but maybe you know better? See our X chart here.
Coins2Day spent several weeks working on the org charts, relying on news reports, government documents and filings, as well as social media posts including on LinkedIn and X, to compile its list of executives. We attempted to contact everyone.
So, the motto of the story is that working in a leadership job for Musk can lead to exciting new roles at a different company or even an advisory body looking to make the government more efficient.
Check out who are the power players at Neuralink and xAI here.
Tech’s big shift. A political revolution has taken place in Silicon Valley. Technology executives who supported Donald Trump were once shunned, but that’s now changed, and many are openly taking the “red pill.” My colleague, Jessica Mathews, has written about tech’s new embrace of Trump and the move—by some—away from Democrats. It has set off a major realignment in the industry and forced many into a state of shock and retrospection.
See you Monday,
Luisa Beltran
Twitter:@luisarbeltran
Email: [email protected]
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.
VENTURE DEALS
- Quantexa, a London-based developer of decision intelligence technology, raised $175 million in Series F funding. Teachers’ Venture Growth led the round and was joined by existing investors including British Patient Capital.
- PetScreening, a Mooresville, N.C.-based platform designed to help property owners manage their pet policies, raised $80 million in Series B funding from Volition Capital, Guidepost Growth Equity, and others.
- Mews, a New York City-based hospitality technology platform, raised $75 million in funding. Tiger Global led the round and was joined by existing investors Kinnevik, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, and Battery Ventures.
- Spiritus, a Los Alamos, N.M.-based developer of direct air capture technology, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Aramco Ventures led the round and was joined by Khosla Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, and TDK Ventures.
- Zocks, a San Francisco-based AI platform designed for financial advisors, raised $13.8 million in Series A funding. Motive Ventures led the round and was joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Expanse Venture Partners, Entrée Capital, and 14Peaks.
- Alpine Eagle, a Munich-based defense tech company, raised €10.3 million ($11.1 million) in seed funding. IQ Capital led the round and was joined by HTGF, Expeditions Fund, Sentris Capital, and existing investors General Catalyst and HCVC.
- AgZen, a Boston-based agricultural technology company, raised $10 million in Series A funding. DCVC Bio led the round and was joined by existing investor Material Impact.
- August, a New York City-based crypto-focused prime brokerage firm, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Dragonfly Ventures led the round and was joined by SCB Limited, 6th Man Ventures, and Foresight Ventures.
- Glimpse, a Somerville, Mass.-based developer of battery quality technology, raised $10 million in Series A funding. TDK Ventures led the round and was joined by Ibex Mobility and Flybridge Capital Partners.
- GoodSAM Foods, a Greenwich, Conn.-based food brand, raised $9 million in Series A funding. Alive Ventures and Desert Bloom led the round and were joined by LATAM Impact Fund, Promotora Social Mexico, One Small Planet, and Connecticut Innovations.
- Alta, a Tel Aviv-based revenue workforce solutions provider, raised $7 million in seed funding. Entrée Capital and Target Global led the round and were joined by Ben Lang and others.
- welevel, a Munich-based video game studio, raised $5.7 million in seed funding. BITKRAFT Ventures led the round and was joined by BMWK (DLR), goodwater, and angel investors.
- Outmarket AI, a San Francisco-based AI-powered platform designed for insurance workflows, raised $4.7 million in seed funding. Fika Ventures led the round and was joined by TTV and Dash Fund.
- Intangible, a San Francisco-based company that makes AI-powered tools for creating 3D content, raised $4 million in funding from a16z Speedrun, Crosslink Capital, Karman Ventures, and angel investors.
- RediRedi, a São Paulo-based AI assistant for entrepreneurs, raised $3 million from angel investors.
- InsureVision, a Cheshire, U.K.-based developer of an AI model designed for driving risk assessment, raised $2.7 million in seed funding from Rethink Ventures, Twin Path Ventures, and State Farm Ventures.
- dScribe AI, a Kansas City-based AI-powered video insight platform, raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding from KCRise Fund, Abstraction Capital, Flyover Capital, Redbud VC, and EquipmentShare.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Advantive, backed by TA Associates, acquired Commerce Vision, a Brisbane, Australia-based digital commerce platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Armis, backed by One Equity Partners, acquired OTORIO, a Tel Aviv-based cyber-attack protection company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Corsair Capital agreed to acquire a majority stake in IDnow, a Munich-based identity verification platform provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Valor Exterior Partners, a portfolio company of Osceola Capital, acquired Roofing King, a Tyngsborough, Mass.-based roofing and home services company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- American Securities acquired Integrated Global Services, a Richmond, Va.-based ESG solutions company, from J.F. Lehman & Company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- SK Capital Partners acquired Physical Properties Testers Group, a Halifax, U.K.-based instrument testing company, from Battery Ventures. Financial terms were not disclosed.
PEOPLE
- AE Industrial Partners, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based private equity firm, hired Andrew G. Boyd as an operating partner. He was formerly with the CIA.
