Alexis Ohanian

Overview

Alexis Ohanian is a tech founder and venture capitalist best known as the co-founder of Reddit and the founder of the venture firm Seven Seven Six. He co-founded Reddit out of college with Y Combinator funding in 2005, sold it to Condé Nast in 2006, returned as executive chairman in 2014, and resigned from its board in June 2020 — then built a second investing career that led Alt’s Series A and moved into women’s sports ownership (UTA Speakers; TechCrunch).

Ohanian was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore before earning a B.A. in History and a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia (UTA Speakers). He wrote the national bestselling book Without Their Permission and has campaigned for the open internet, STEM education and paid family leave, including a New York Times op-ed arguing that paternity leave mattered after the birth of his child (UTA Speakers).

Reddit: founding, sale, return, exit

Out of college, Ohanian co-founded Reddit, which was funded by Y Combinator in 2005 and sold to Condé Nast in 2006 (UTA Speakers). He returned as executive chairman in 2014 to help lead the turnaround of the then-independent company, and stepped away from Reddit’s day-to-day involvement in 2018 (UTA Speakers; TechCrunch). The arc closed publicly on June 5, 2020, when Ohanian announced he was stepping down from Reddit’s board and asked that his seat go to a Black board member, as communities across the United States marched for social justice after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police (TechCrunch). Reddit honoured the request five days later by appointing Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel, who had become Y Combinator’s first Black partner in 2014 (TechCrunch).

From Initialized Capital to Seven Seven Six

Ohanian’s investing career began alongside Reddit’s second act. He co-founded Initialized Capital with Garry Tan in 2011, launching with a $7 million vehicle that grew into early-stage bets on Flexport, Instacart, Cruise, Coinbase and Codecademy (TechCrunch). The firm closed a $225 million fourth fund in 2018 and by June 2020 had $500 million in assets under management across more than 200 portfolio companies (TechCrunch). That month Ohanian left Initialized to work on “a new project that will support a generation of founders in tech and beyond,” remaining involved in its existing vehicles because of legal ties; the firm confirmed his departure did not trigger its key-man clause (TechCrunch).

The new project was Seven Seven Six, named for 776 BC, the year of the first Olympics, on the theory that the cook who won its Stadion race was likely a good athlete rather than necessarily the best — a founding story about overlooked talent (TechCrunch). The firm closed its $150 million first fund in June 2021 with Katelin Holloway and Lissie Garvin, both former Initialized and Reddit colleagues, in founding positions (TechCrunch). Equity and inclusion were built into its structure: half of its limited partners were women and 15% were Black or indigenous people, and a 2% “Growth and Caregiving Commitment” set aside extra capital to support founders’ personal needs, from childcare to travel (TechCrunch). Alt was among the firm’s first 17 investments, and Seven Seven Six led Alt’s Series A as part of the $31 million Alt raised across its seed and Series A rounds (TechCrunch; Crunchbase News). Ohanian said he had been energized by the alternative-asset market for some time and was drawn to Alt’s ability to make buying and trading alternative assets more structured, efficient and transparent (Crunchbase News).

Venture	Ohanian’s role	Scale as reported
Reddit	Co-founder; executive chairman 2014; board member until June 2020	Funded by Y Combinator 2005; sold to Condé Nast 2006
Initialized Capital	Co-founder with Garry Tan, 2011	$500 million under management, 200+ companies by 2020
Seven Seven Six	Founder, 2020	$150 million Fund 1 (2021); over $1.2 billion AUM per 2026 bio

Women’s sports and philanthropy

Beyond technology, Ohanian became one of the leading investors in women’s sports: he is the founding control owner of Angel City Football Club and Los Angeles Golf Club, the founder of the women’s track competition ATHLOS, and an investor in Chelsea FC Women (SXSW London). In 2022 he launched the 776 Foundation to support marginalized individuals and announced a $20 million commitment to climate action through its Fellowship Program, which offers young builders a $100,000 grant and network support (UTA Speakers; SXSW London).

What this profile does not claim

• No net-worth figure is given: circulating estimates rest on aggregators, and no Forbes wealth figure was verified in a fully-read source.
• Initialized Capital’s founding year is reported as 2011 by TechCrunch and 2012 in another report of the same departure; the profile follows TechCrunch and flags the variant rather than resolving it silently.
• The price Condé Nast paid for Reddit is not stated, since no fully-read source in this pass gives it.
• A speaker bio’s claim that Ohanian built Initialized to $100 billion in market value was rejected: it contradicts TechCrunch’s reported $500 million in assets under management and is not used anywhere in this profile.