A PayPal cofounder's SpaceX bet vaults him onto the Forbes 400
Eight Austin residents made this year's list of the richest Americans, led by a first-time entry whose Austin fund poured a billion dollars into SpaceX.
AUSTIN — Eight Austin residents landed on this year's Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, including a first-time member whose fortune is tied to one of the city's best-known investment firms.
Venture capitalist Luke Nosek, 51, made his debut with an estimated net worth of $5.5 billion. A PayPal cofounder, Nosek later helped start Founders Fund and, in 2017, the Austin-based Gigafund, which Forbes says has invested $1 billion into SpaceX. Forbes noted he personally owns a small stake in the rocket company.
The rest of Austin's contingent spans the city's established fortunes: Dell Technologies' Michael Dell (fourth nationally at an estimated $263 billion), investor Robert F. Smith, Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia, software investor Joseph Liemandt, tech entrepreneur Thai Lee and Tito's Vodka founder Bert Beveridge. Forbes said 43 Texas billionaires made the 2026 list, and that it now takes a record $4.4 billion just to qualify.
Why it matters
Lists of the ultra-wealthy are easy to wave off, but the composition of Austin's entry says something about the local economy. It runs from legacy tech (Dell) and consumer brands (Tito's) to a new cohort minted by venture and startup equity — the kind of wealth that tends to recirculate into the next generation of local companies through angel checks and new funds.
Nosek's debut in particular underscores how much of the region's rising paper wealth is now linked to privately held technology companies rather than public-market fortunes. That concentration has an upside for founders looking for capital, and a familiar downside for a city still wrestling with affordability as more billion-dollar balance sheets set up downtown.
Reported by Next in Austin. Based on reporting from CultureMap Austin.
