Who is Lachy Groom? Inside the Life, Wealth, Investment Portfolio & Crypto Robbery

On the evening of November 22, 2025, the usually serene streets of San Francisco's Dolores corridor became the center of an audacious armed robbery that shook the global tech community. Lachy Groom—a renowned tech investor known for his early bets on next-generation crypto and SaaS companies—became the victim of a targeted home invasion that resulted in the theft of approximately $11 million in cryptocurrency assets. According to multiple reports, the assailant gained entry to Groom's residence while impersonating a UPS courier, then violently subdued Groom and forcibly extracted access to his mobile and laptop, transferring millions in digital funds.

Surveillance footage and subsequent police accounts revealed that the perpetrator executed the scheme with calculated precision, even subjecting Groom to physical violence while coerced on a speakerphone call. Law enforcement and cybersecurity specialists are now racing to trace the pathways of the stolen digital assets—a stark reminder of the heightened physical and cyber risks faced by high-profile individuals in the modern crypto era.

Who is Lachy Groom? A Prodigy in Tech and Venture Capital

At the center of this shocking event is Lachy Groom, a 31-year-old Australian-born entrepreneur and investor who has quietly carved out an extraordinary career in Silicon Valley. Groom isn’t just another name in cryptocurrencies—his track record as an operator and investor places him among the most influential young minds shaping the future of fintech and enterprise software.

His journey to prominence began not in a boardroom, but in his teenage years in Perth, Australia. By the age of 15, Groom had already launched multiple web ventures, including a PSD-to-WordPress conversion service catering to freelance designers struggling to bring static images to life on the internet. His knack for recognizing pain points and building solutions soon led to CardNap, a novel online marketplace for trading unused gift cards. Even before adulthood, Groom had built, scaled, and internationalized businesses, reflecting a rare mix of technical ability and entrepreneurial vision.

The Stripe Years: Learning at a Rocketship

Groom’s global breakout came after moving to the United States and joining Stripe in 2014 as one of the payment startup’s earliest employees. His role at Stripe was formative—helping drive explosive growth at a company that would transform the mechanics of digital commerce. Groom’s front-row seat to Stripe’s evolution from high-potential startup to fintech juggernaut furnished him with deep insight into product-led growth and developer-first go-to-market strategies.

Becoming a Top Angel Investor: Betting on the Future

In 2018, Groom pivoted from operator to investor, and his meticulous approach rapidly set him apart from traditional venture capitalists. Instead of deploying capital broadly, Groom adopted a concentrated strategy: invest significant personal stakes in a handful of early-stage software companies where he could actively assist founders.

His criteria are both practical and prescient—Groom specializes in identifying startups with early traction among technical users, particularly developers and knowledge workers. He looks for bottom-up adoption, betting on products that individuals and small teams genuinely love before management ever signs a contract.

Signature Investments: Figma, Notion, and Ramp

• Figma: When Figma was little more than a fledgling online design tool, Groom saw the paradigm shift as designers quietly abandoned entrenched tools like Sketch and Adobe, drawn to Figma’s collaborative advantages. Groom’s early investment was validated when Figma later achieved a multi-billion-dollar acquisition by Adobe.

• Notion: Notion started as a personal productivity tool, but Groom identified its latent potential as a platform for enterprise collaboration. His investment fueled its expansion into team and organizational use, with the product’s grassroots popularity paving the way for viral, bottom-up adoption.

• Ramp: Despite the crowded corporate card sector, Groom backed Ramp's founding team at the seed stage, recognizing their deep fintech expertise and focus on solving real-world finance operations challenges.

• Lattice: Groom also saw opportunity in Lattice, an HR performance management tool. Diverging from clunky corporate software of the past, Lattice won over employees and managers first—another example of Groom’s product-love-first thesis.

Through this highly selective, hands-on investment model, Groom has become one of Silicon Valley’s youngest and most successful angel investors.

Lachy Groom’s Investment Portfolio: Betting on Tomorrow’s Tech Leaders

Lachy Groom’s investment portfolio reads like a who’s-who of transformative tech companies. Here are some of the most outstanding names and categories in which he has made early, significant investments:

(Note: Portfolio details reflect public investment records and interviews; list is non-exhaustive as Groom’s dealings are often private or confidential.)

Across these companies and more, Groom's portfolio showcases his keen ability to spot not only early adoption but also products likely to be beloved by developers and professionals. His gift is backing companies that quietly win over individual users—often before large contracts and mainstream publicity arrive.

Relationship with Sam Altman: Personal and Professional Connections

Beyond his abilities as a tech investor, Lachy Groom has also drawn public attention for his personal and professional ties to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. According to multiple sources and property records, Groom was previously in a relationship with Altman. Their connection extended into shared business ventures, including leading a $35 million funding round in the internet infrastructure startup Meter in early 2024. Groom’s current residence was acquired directly from the Altman family in 2021, further highlighting the close personal and financial relationship between the two tech icons.

Conclusion

The November 2025 robbery underscores the complex, sometimes dangerous reality for high-profile crypto and tech investors. The nature of digital wealth—easily transferrable, often immaterial, and difficult to trace—presents unique vulnerabilities. As law enforcement works to recover the stolen cryptocurrency and apprehend the assailants, the incident serves as a wake-up call to the broader industry about balancing innovation and security.=