Columbus vs. Silicon Valley: The Quiet Shift You Didn’t See Coming

The Long Drive Home: How a Midwest VC Survived a Breakup and Found $500 Million in Redemption

In venture capital, staying relevant is hard. Staying contrarian is harder. And doing both from Columbus, Ohio? That sounded downright foolish — at least in 2012.

That’s when Chris Olsen and Mark Kvamme, two former Sequoia partners, left Silicon Valley’s warm glow and placed a bold bet on America’s heartland. The firm they built, Drive Capital, became a venture oddity — not because it failed, but because it actually stuck around.

Then it nearly fell apart.

The Split That Should’ve Killed Them

Three years ago, the founders of Drive parted ways. Kvamme spun off to start the Ohio Fund, broadening his ambitions to real estate and infrastructure. Insiders whispered. Investors held their breath. Would Drive be yet another cautionary tale?

Instead, it doubled down.

A $500 Million Week — Yes, Week

In May 2025, Drive returned half a billion dollars to investors — in a single week. That included nearly $140 million in Root Insurance shares, and windfalls from the exits of Thoughtful Automation and another stealthy gem.

Was it a stunt? Maybe. Was it a sign of resilience? Absolutely.

“I’m unaware of any other venture firm achieving that kind of liquidity recently,” Olsen said. He’s now the sole managing partner — and the architect of Drive 2.0.

The Anti-Unicorn Strategy

Forget the $50 billion IPO dream. That’s Olsen’s advice. “In 20 years, there’ve been only 12 exits over $50 billion in America,” he said. “But there are monthly exits at the $3 billion mark.”

That’s Drive’s sweet spot: durable, overlooked businesses outside Silicon Valley’s echo chamber.

Take Thoughtful Automation — sold below a billion, but still “near fund-returning” for Drive thanks to a fat ownership stake (about 30%, much higher than the Valley average).

From Bars to Billionaires

Drive’s origin stories are as scrappy as its geography. One early bet was Duolingo, pre-revenue and pre-anything, discovered in a Pittsburgh bar. Today it’s worth $18 billion on NASDAQ.

They also rode the wave of Vast Data ($9 billion+ valuation), and made a tidy sum on Root Insurance, despite its messy public market saga.

But not all bets worked. The spectacular implosion of Olive AI — once a $4 billion darling turned fire sale — stung hard.

Betting on Boring (and It Works)

Here’s what makes Drive different: they fund companies in the real economy.

Autonomous welding. Next-gen dental insurance. Healthcare automation. Not buzzwords, but billion-dollar opportunities. Drive is usually the only VC on the cap table — owning more, influencing more, believing earlier.

And they’re not doing it alone in Columbus anymore. With team members in Austin, Boulder, Chicago, Atlanta, and Toronto, Drive’s footprint now matches its ambition.

Columbus Is Cool Now?

You know who else thinks Columbus is the next tech frontier?

Peter Thiel. Palmer Luckey. Yep, they just announced a new crypto-focused bank called Erebor, to be headquartered right there in Drive’s hometown.

“When we started Drive in 2012, people thought we were nuts,” Olsen recalled. “Now you’re seeing the smartest minds in tech — Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Thiel — all leaving Silicon Valley and building new tech hubs.”

And the Results?

Drive is managing $2.2 billion across funds — with top-quartile performance and “north of 4x net” returns on their most mature vehicles. Roughly 30% of their $1 billion 2022 fund is still dry powder, ready to deploy.

Not bad for a firm once left for dead.

The Takeaway

Drive Capital’s success isn’t just a comeback story — it’s a blueprint. It proves that geography is no longer destiny, and that Silicon Valley's monopoly on innovation is over.

They’re not chasing unicorns. They’re building thoroughbreds.