Founders Fund

Reviewed Updated Mar 14, 2026

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Location San Francisco, CA
Founded 2005
Fund Size $50M (Fund I, 2005); $220M (Fund II, 2007); $250M (Fund III, 2010); $625M (Fund IV, 2011); $1B (Fund V, 2014); $1.3B (Fund VI, 2016); $1.5B (Fund VII, 2020); $900M (Fund VIII, 2022); $1.5B (Growth I, 2020); $3.4B (Growth II, 2022); $4.6B (Growth III, 2025); ~$6B (Growth IV, 2026)
Website https://foundersfund.com
Stage Focus
seed series-a series-b growth
Sector Focus
ai defense aerospace fintech saas biotech crypto consumer-internet hard-tech

Team

Peter Thiel Founder & Partner
Napoleon Ta Partner
Trae Stephens Partner
Scott Nolan Partner
John Luttig Partner
Delian Asparouhov Partner
Matias Van Thienen Partner
Amin Mirzadegan Partner
Joey Krug Partner
Sean Liu Partner
Lauren Gross Partner & COO
Sean Parker Former Managing Partner
Ken Howery Co-Founder & Partner (2005-2019)
Brian Singerman Partner Emeritus

About

Founders Fund is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm founded in 2005 by Peter Thiel, Ken Howery, and Luke Nosek 12. All three co-founders were members of the “PayPal Mafia” – the group of early PayPal executives who went on to found and fund major technology companies 3. The firm was launched with a $50 million inaugural fund, of which Thiel personally contributed $38 million (76% of the fund), with the remaining $12 million raised from individual entrepreneurs 2.

Founders Fund was established with a deliberately contrarian philosophy: the firm promised never to remove founders from their own companies, a direct challenge to the traditional activist VC model 14. The firm describes itself as “a San Francisco based venture capital firm investing in companies building revolutionary technologies” 5.

The firm’s fund history reflects rapid growth from its startup origins:

  • Fund I (2005): $50 million 12
  • Fund II (2007): $220 million 1
  • Fund III (2010): $250 million 1
  • Fund IV (2011): $625 million 1
  • Fund V (2014): $1 billion, bringing aggregate AUM to over $2 billion 1
  • Fund VI (2016): $1.3 billion, bringing aggregate AUM to over $3 billion 1
  • Fund VII (2020): $1.5 billion 61
  • Fund VIII (2022): Originally $1.8 billion, later cut in half to approximately $900 million at Thiel’s direction, who thought “venture capital is due for a slimdown” 7
  • Growth Fund I (2020): Part of $3 billion combined raise with Fund VII 1
  • Growth Fund II (2022): $3.4 billion, part of a combined $5 billion raise with Fund VIII 89
  • Growth Fund III (2025): $4.6 billion, the largest capital raise in the firm’s history at that time 910
  • Growth Fund IV (2026): Nearing $6 billion close as of March 2026 11

As of 2025, the firm has roughly $17 billion in total assets under management 1. Over its 21-year history, Founders Fund has invested in 553 companies, with 47 unicorns, 28 IPOs, and 123 acquisitions in its portfolio 12.

The firm was the first institutional investor in both SpaceX and Palantir Technologies, and made an early investment in Facebook 1. Founders Fund’s early funds achieved exceptional returns: Fund II (2007) returned a 26.5x gross multiple, Fund III (2010) returned 15.2x, and Fund IV (2011) returned 15x 2. Over the last two years, the firm returned $10 billion worth of shares to investors as portfolio companies hit public markets 8.

Key partner departures in 2024 reshaped the firm’s leadership: Keith Rabois left in January 2024 to rejoin Khosla Ventures 13, and Brian Singerman – who joined 17 years ago and was instrumental in investments including SpaceX, Affirm, and Oscar Health – transitioned to partner emeritus in December 2024 14. These departures left Peter Thiel, Napoleon Ta, and Trae Stephens as the three general partners 14. Other current partners include Scott Nolan, John Luttig, Delian Asparouhov, Matias Van Thienen, Amin Mirzadegan, Joey Krug, and Sean Liu, with Lauren Gross serving as Partner and COO 15.

Stated Thesis

Founders Fund’s stated investment philosophy is rooted in Peter Thiel’s “Zero to One” framework: that true innovation comes from creating something entirely new rather than copying what already exists 16. The firm’s famous motto – “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters” – encapsulates its critique that Silicon Valley has focused too much on incremental software improvements rather than transformative technology 1718.

The firm published a manifesto titled “What happened to the future?” (written by former partner Bruce Gibney) that laid out four priority investment areas: aerospace and transportation, biotechnology, advanced machines and software, and energy 17. The manifesto argued that the Internet’s potential had not been exhausted but that venture capital had become too focused on “features, widgets, irrelevances” rather than ambitious technological problems 17.

Thiel’s core investment question is: “What important truth do few people agree with you on?” – seeking founders who hold contrarian views about important problems 16. His business version is: “What valuable company is nobody building?” 16.

The firm explicitly embraces a “founder-maximalist” philosophy, stating that it has never removed a founder from a portfolio company 419. This was a founding principle: Thiel, Howery, and Nosek launched Founders Fund with the promise to never remove entrepreneurs from their own companies 4.

Thiel has described his investment criteria through the lens of monopoly theory: “All successful companies are different – achieving monopoly by solving unique problems; all failed companies are the same – they failed to escape competition” 16. The firm seeks companies that can build defensible monopoly positions through unique technology and insight rather than competing in crowded markets 16.

Founders Fund states it accepts technological risk (will the technology work?) rather than market risk (will people want it?), a distinction that differentiates it from most venture firms that prefer proven technology applied to validated markets 17.

Inferred Thesis

The following analysis is based on the 61 portfolio companies listed on Founders Fund’s website 20, supplemented by investment data from our existing startup profiles. With 553 total companies per Tracxn 12, this represents approximately 11% of the full portfolio, skewed toward the firm’s most prominent investments.

Sector Allocation (computed from 61 verified portfolio entries on foundersfund.com)

  • Defense / Aerospace / Autonomous: 10 companies (16%) – SpaceX, Anduril, Varda, General Matter, Impulse, ARQ, PsiQuantum, Boring Company, Applied Intuition (via Founders Fund portfolio page reference), Hadrian
  • AI / Machine Learning: 9 companies (15%) – OpenAI, DeepMind, Cognition, Neuralink, Scale, Crusoe (AI cloud computing), Netic, Until, Monaco (AI sales platform)
  • Fintech / Payments / Banking: 9 companies (15%) – Stripe, Ramp, Nubank, Trade Republic, Affirm, Aven, Found, Paxos, Polymarket
  • Enterprise SaaS / Software: 7 companies (11%) – Palantir, Rippling, Figma, Asana, BuildOps, Persona, Workrise
  • Consumer Internet / Marketplace: 7 companies (11%) – Facebook, Airbnb, Lyft, Wish, Postmates, Faire, The Athletic
  • Health / Biotech: 4 companies (7%) – Oscar, Solugen, Cedar, Sword Health
  • Hardware / Robotics / Energy: 4 companies (7%) – Enter, Nanotronics, EnduroSat, Lighter
  • Other (Music, Fintech, Trading, Hiring): 11 companies (18%) – Spotify, Wave, Kavak, Flexport, Credit Karma, Twilio, Oculus, ZocDoc, Tagomi, Traba, Mnzil

Stage Distribution

Tracxn data indicates Founders Fund primarily invests at Series A 12. However, the firm invests across all stages from seed through growth. The growth fund vehicles (Growth I through Growth IV) have grown dramatically from $1.5 billion to approximately $6 billion, indicating an increasing emphasis on later-stage investing. The firm’s approach is to make concentrated bets: investing $100-300 million at cost in select companies for several billion in exposure, then doubling, tripling, or quadrupling down in subsequent rounds 8.

Cross-referencing with our existing startup profiles: - Lyft: Led Series B ($15M, Jan 2013), followed on in Series D and E 21 - Airbnb: Led Series C ($200M, Oct 2013) 22 - Stripe: Led Series C ($80M, Jan 2014), participated in Series I 23 - Figma: Participated in Series C ($40M, Feb 2019) 24 - OpenAI: Participated in Series F ($40B, Mar 2025) and extension 25 - Anthropic: Participated in Series G ($30B, Feb 2026) 26

This pattern shows the firm entering at growth stages (Series B and C) for marketplace/fintech companies, then increasingly investing at later stages for AI companies in 2025-2026.

Geographic Concentration

Founders Fund has made 451 of its investments in the United States, followed by 10 in the United Kingdom 12. However, the portfolio includes notable international investments: Nubank (Brazil), Trade Republic (Germany), Kavak (Mexico), Spotify (Sweden), and Wave (Africa), suggesting openness to international companies building in the firm’s target sectors.

Check Size

The firm’s check size ranges from $500,000 to $150 million 27. Based on observable data: - Early-stage / seed: $500K-$5M - Series A/B: $10M-$50M - Growth: $100M-$300M+ (with the largest single investment being $1 billion into Anduril’s Series G in June 2025 28)

Co-Investor Patterns

Based on our existing startup profiles, Founders Fund frequently co-invests with: Sequoia Capital (in Stripe, Airbnb, Figma, OpenAI), Andreessen Horowitz (in Airbnb, Lyft, Figma, OpenAI, Anthropic), Coatue Management (in Lyft, Anthropic), and General Catalyst (in Stripe, Anthropic). The firm has particularly strong overlap with the “PayPal Mafia” investor network.

Founder Profile Patterns

Founders Fund disproportionately backs founders connected to Peter Thiel’s network: Thiel Fellows (Dylan Field/Figma, Vitalik Buterin/Ethereum, Delian Asparouhov/Varda) 29, PayPal alumni (Elon Musk/SpaceX, Reid Hoffman/LinkedIn), and Palantir alumni (Trae Stephens co-founded Anduril with Palmer Luckey after both had Palantir connections) 30. The firm favors mission-driven founders with intense conviction building in technically complex domains.

Notable Gaps Between Stated and Actual Thesis

  • The firm’s manifesto emphasizes “flying cars” and hard tech over software, yet 11% of the highlighted portfolio is enterprise SaaS, 11% is consumer internet/marketplace, and 16% is fintech – conventional software categories. The actual portfolio is more balanced between hard tech and software than the stated thesis suggests.
  • The “Zero to One” rhetoric emphasizes creating entirely new categories, but investments in companies like Lyft (competing directly with Uber), Wish (e-commerce), and Postmates (food delivery) were in highly competitive, crowded markets.
  • The firm’s growth funds have grown dramatically (from $1.5B to $6B in four years), suggesting the firm has shifted substantially toward later-stage investing in established winners, which is less aligned with the contrarian early-stage thesis than the original mission suggests.
  • SpaceX and Palantir represent an outsized share of the firm’s historical returns and brand identity, but these were investments from 2005-2008 1. The newer portfolio skews more toward AI and defense tech, reflecting current partner interests (Trae Stephens for defense, Napoleon Ta for growth equity).

Portfolio

The following table includes all 61 companies listed on Founders Fund’s portfolio page 20, supplemented by investments verified through our existing startup profiles.

Company Stage Year Sector Status
SpaceX Series A 2008 Aerospace Private 12
Palantir Series A ~2005 (founded) Enterprise / Data Intelligence Public (IPO 2020) 1
Anduril Seed→Series H (participated through every round; led Series F, G; participated in Series H) 2017-08 (Seed); 2018-06 (Series A); 2026-05-13 (Series H) Defense Tech Private (valued at $61B post Series H) 28304849
Stripe Series C (led) 2014-01-22 Fintech / Payments Private 235253
Facebook Angel/Early ~2005 Consumer Internet / Social Public (IPO 2012) 1
Airbnb Series C (led) 2013-10-28 Marketplace Public (IPO 2020) 2254
Ramp Growth ~2019 (founded) Fintech Private 20
Neuralink Early ~2016 (founded) Biotech / Neural Interface Private 20
OpenAI Series F (participated) 2025-03-31 AI Private 2545
Enter Series B (led) 2026-05-05 AI / Legal Tech / LatAm Private 4647
Cognition Series A (led) 2024-03-12; $1B+ growth (participant at $26B post-money; Lux/General Catalyst/8VC co-led) 2026-05-27 2024-03-12; 2026-05-27 AI / Developer Tools / Coding Agents Private 2036373857
Nubank Series C ~2014 Fintech / Banking Public (IPO 2021) 2
Trade Republic Growth ~2019 (founded) Fintech / Brokerage Private 20
Spotify Growth ~2008 (founded) Consumer / Music Streaming Public (IPO 2018) 20
Rippling Growth ~2017 (founded) Enterprise / HR Private 20
Affirm Early ~2012 (founded) Fintech / BNPL Public (IPO 2021) 1420
Crusoe Series D (led) 2024-12-12 AI / Cloud / Energy Private 20394041
Polymarket Growth ~2020 (founded) Prediction Markets Private 20
Lighter Early ~2023 (founded) Health / Weight Private 20
Figma Series C 2019 Design / Developer Tools Private 24
Varda Early ~2021 (founded) Aerospace / Space Manufacturing Private 20
General Matter Early ~2025 (founded) Nuclear Fuel Private 20
Impulse Space Early (~2021); Series D (participant, $500M at $4.26B post-money; 137 Ventures and BANNER VC co-led) ~2021; 2026-06-02 Aerospace / In-Space Mobility Private 2058
Hadrian Growth ~2020 (founded) Advanced Manufacturing Private 20
Enter Early ~2023 (founded) Construction / Robotics Private 20
ARQ Early ~2023 (founded) Defense / Aerospace Private 20
PsiQuantum Growth ~2016 (founded) Quantum Computing Private 20
Until Early ~2023 (founded) AI Private 20
DeepMind Early ~2010 (founded) AI Acquired by Google (2014) 20
Scale Growth ~2016 (founded) AI / Data Infrastructure Private 20
Flock Safety Growth ~2017 (founded) Public Safety / Hardware Private 20
Boring Company Growth ~2016 (founded) Tunnel Infrastructure Private 20
Oculus Early ~2012 (founded) VR / Hardware Acquired by Facebook (2014) 20
Persona Growth ~2018 (founded) Identity / Enterprise Private 20
BuildOps Growth ~2018 (founded) Construction / SaaS Private 20
Twilio Early ~2008 (founded) Developer Tools / Communications Public (IPO 2016) 20
Credit Karma Growth ~2007 (founded) Consumer Fintech Acquired by Intuit (2020) 20
Netic Early ~2023 (founded) Enterprise Private 20
Monaco Series B (participated; returning investor “tripling down”) 2026-05-12 AI / Sales / SaaS Private 55
Oscar Early ~2012 (founded) Health Insurance Public (IPO 2021) 20
Solugen Growth ~2016 (founded) Biotech / Chemicals Private 20
Wave Growth ~2018 (founded) Fintech / Mobile Money (Africa) Private 20
Kavak Growth ~2016 (founded) Auto Marketplace (Mexico) Private 20
Flexport Growth ~2015 (founded) Logistics Private 20
Faire Growth ~2017 (founded) Marketplace Private 20
Workrise Growth ~2014 (founded) Workforce / Enterprise Private 20
Aven Early ~2019 (founded) Fintech Private 20
Found Early ~2019 (founded) Fintech / Tax Private 20
Cedar Growth ~2016 (founded) Health Tech / Payments Private 20
Asana Early ~2008 (founded) Enterprise SaaS Public (IPO 2020) 20
Lyft Series B 2013 Ride-Sharing Public (IPO 2019) 21
Wish Growth ~2010 (founded) E-commerce Public (IPO 2020) 20
Postmates Growth ~2011 (founded) Delivery Acquired by Uber (2020) 20
Tagomi Growth ~2018 (founded) Crypto Trading Acquired by Coinbase (2020) 20
Sword Health Growth ~2015 (founded) Digital Health Private 20
The Athletic Growth ~2016 (founded) Media / Sports Acquired by NYT (2022) 20
Traba Early ~2021 (founded) Labor / Marketplace Private 20
Paxos Growth ~2012 (founded) Crypto / Infrastructure Private 20
Nanotronics Growth ~2014 (founded) Advanced Manufacturing Private 20
ZocDoc Growth ~2007 (founded) Health / Marketplace Private 20
Mnzil Early ~2023 (founded) Enterprise (Middle East) Private 20
EnduroSat Growth ~2015 (founded) Aerospace / Satellite Private 20
Anthropic Series G (co-lead) 2026-02-12 AI Private 264344
Nominal Series B Extension (led, $80M at $1B valuation) 2026-03-05 Defense Tech / Hardware Private 3542
Fractile Series B (co-led, $220M) 2026-05-13 AI / Inference Hardware (UK) Private 5051
Armada Series B (participant, $230M at $2B val; Overmatch, BlackRock, 8090 co-led) 2026-05-19 AI Infrastructure / Edge / Defense Private 56
NewLimit Series C (led, $435M at $3.1B post-money) 2026-06-02 Biotech / Longevity / Cell Reprogramming Private 596061

Note: This table includes all 61 companies listed on Founders Fund’s portfolio page plus Lyft, Anthropic, and Nominal from cross-referenced startup profiles. Investment years use company founding year as a proxy where specific investment date is unknown, marked with “~YYYY (founded)”. Founders Fund has invested in 553 companies total per Tracxn 12; this table represents approximately 11% of the full portfolio, biased toward the firm’s most notable investments.

In Their Own Words

Peter Thiel on contrarian thinking:

“What important truth do few people agree with you on?” 16

Peter Thiel on competition and monopoly:

“All successful companies are different – achieving monopoly by solving unique problems; all failed companies are the same – they failed to escape competition.” 16

Peter Thiel on technology stagnation (the firm’s famous motto):

“We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” 1718

Peter Thiel on Elon Musk and risk:

“I would never bet against Elon… There’s something about risk he knows that we don’t.” 31

Peter Thiel’s advice to Airbnb (as relayed by Brian Chesky):

“Don’t fuck up the culture.” (Given to Brian Chesky after Founders Fund led Airbnb’s Series C) 3233

Peter Thiel on hiring at Founders Fund:

“Your bar for success is if I never have to take a fundraising meeting.” (To Lauren Gross, who went on to scale the firm’s AUM into billions) 2

Trae Stephens on Founders Fund’s investment in Anduril:

Stephens called the firm’s $1 billion contribution to Anduril’s Series G “the largest check Founders Fund has ever written.” 28

Founders Fund Manifesto on investment priorities:

The manifesto argues for investing in transformative technologies across aerospace, biotechnology, advanced machines, and energy rather than “features, widgets, irrelevances.” 17

What Founders Say

Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbnb: Chesky has publicly cited Peter Thiel’s advice after Founders Fund led Airbnb’s $200 million Series C in October 2013. When Chesky asked Thiel for “the single most important piece of advice,” Thiel responded, “Don’t fuck up the culture.” Chesky turned this into a widely shared open letter to Airbnb employees in which he wrote: “The culture is what creates the foundation for all future innovation. If you break the culture, you break the machine that creates your products.” Chesky attributed Thiel’s investment as partly motivated by Airbnb’s culture 3233.

Palmer Luckey, Founder of Oculus and Anduril: Luckey met Trae Stephens at a Founders Fund retreat on Sonora Island, British Columbia in June 2014, where they discovered a shared interest in building defense technology companies like tech startups. Stephens, then a Founders Fund partner who had recently left Palantir, went on to co-found Anduril with Luckey. Founders Fund led Anduril’s early funding and contributed $1 billion to the company’s June 2025 Series G round at a $30.5 billion valuation 283034.

Note: No independently sourced critical or negative founder testimonials about Founders Fund were found in this research pass. The firm’s founder-maximalist philosophy and policy of never removing founders may contribute to a lack of public friction. The Chesky quote is independently sourced from his own published Medium post and press coverage. The Luckey/Stephens relationship is documented through press coverage of Anduril’s founding story.

Sources

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  2. “No Rivals: The Prophet (Part I).” The Generalist, by Mario Gabriele. https://www.generalist.com/p/founders-fund-1. Accessed March 2026. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  3. “PayPal Mafia.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia. Accessed March 2026. ↩

  4. “Studying Peter Thiel and Founders Fund with Mario Gabriele.” Not Boring, by Packy McCormick. https://www.notboring.co/p/studying-peter-thiel-and-founders. Accessed March 2026. ↩↩↩

  5. Founders Fund homepage. https://foundersfund.com/. Accessed March 2026. ↩

  6. “The Founders Fund VII: Performance.” PitchBook. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/fund/16855-21F. Accessed March 2026. ↩

  7. “Founders Fund slashes size of its flagship VC fund.” Axios, March 3, 2023. https://www.axios.com/2023/03/03/founders-fund-slashes-vc-peter-thiel↩

  8. “A look inside Founders Fund, as it closes on $5 billion across two new funds.” TechCrunch, March 4, 2022. https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/04/a-peek-inside-founders-fund-as-it-closes-on-5-billion-across-two-new-funds/↩↩↩

  9. “Founders Fund’s new $4.6B fund indicates an era of big VC spending.” TechCrunch, April 15, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/15/founders-funds-new-4-6b-fund-indicates-an-era-of-big-vc-spending/↩↩

  10. “Founders Fund is about to close another $3B fund.” TechCrunch, February 11, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/11/founders-fund-is-about-to-close-another-3b-fund/↩

  11. “Founders Fund nears $6B close for latest growth fund, sources say.” TechCrunch, March 9, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/09/founders-fund-nears-6-billion-close-for-latest-growth-fund-sources-say/↩

  12. “Founders Fund – 2026 Investor Profile, Portfolio, Team & Investment Trends.” Tracxn. https://tracxn.com/d/venture-capital/foundersfund/__pX2XinPNEx7ZnA0m_Da8uSZo7N6VyyBFW_Fime6Iuxc. Accessed March 2026. ↩↩↩↩↩

  13. “Why Keith Rabois just left Founders Fund for Khosla Ventures.” TechCrunch, January 9, 2024. https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/09/keith-rabois-dishes-on-his-surprising-return-to-khosla-ventures-after-leaving-the-firm-in-2019-for-founders-fund/↩

  14. “Brian Singerman to take a step back from Founders Fund.” TechCrunch, December 3, 2024. https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/03/brian-singerman-to-take-a-step-back-from-founders-fund/↩↩↩

  15. “Team – Founders Fund.” Founders Fund. https://foundersfund.com/our_team/. Accessed March 2026. ↩

  16. “Zero to One by Peter Thiel: Summary & Notes.” Graham Mann. https://grahammann.net/book-notes/zero-to-one-peter-thiel. Accessed March 2026. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  17. “What happened to the future?” Founders Fund Manifesto. https://foundersfund.com/2017/01/manifesto/. Accessed March 2026. ↩↩↩↩↩↩

  18. “Peter Thiel at Yale: We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” Yale School of Management. https://som.yale.edu/blog/peter-thiel-at-yale-we-wanted-flying-cars-instead-we-got-140-characters. Accessed March 2026. ↩↩

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  21. “Ahead Of Expansion, Lyft Parent Zimride Closed $15M In New Funding From Founders Fund.” TechCrunch, January 30, 2013. https://techcrunch.com/2013/01/30/lyft-zimride-15m-series-b/↩↩

  22. Airbnb startup profile, Seedlist data. /data/startups/airbnb.md. Series C: $200M led by Founders Fund, Oct 2013. ↩↩

  23. Stripe startup profile, Seedlist data. /data/startups/stripe.md. Series C: $80M led by Founders Fund, Jan 2014. ↩↩

  24. Figma startup profile, Seedlist data. /data/startups/figma.md. Series C: $40M with Founders Fund participation, Feb 2019. ↩↩

  25. OpenAI startup profile, Seedlist data. /data/startups/openai.md. Series F: $40B with Founders Fund participation, Mar 2025. ↩↩

  26. Anthropic startup profile, Seedlist data. /data/startups/anthropic.md. Series G: $30B with Founders Fund participation, Feb 2026. ↩↩

  27. “Founders Fund.” VC Sheet. https://www.vcsheet.com/fund/founders-fund. Accessed March 2026. ↩

  28. “Anduril raises $2.5B at $30.5B valuation led by Founders Fund.” TechCrunch, June 5, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/05/anduril-raises-2-5b-at-30-5b-valuation-led-by-founders-fund/↩↩↩↩

  29. “How The Thiel Fellowship Created $750B+ In Value.” Sourcery. https://www.sourcery.vc/p/how-the-thiel-fellowship-created. Accessed March 2026. ↩

  30. “Trae Stephens.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trae_Stephens. Accessed March 2026. ↩↩↩

  31. “‘You should never bet against Elon’: Peter Thiel says Musk understands risk-taking completely differently from other people.” Yahoo Finance, 2024. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/never-bet-against-elon-peter-120737876.html↩

  32. “Don’t Fuck Up the Culture.” Brian Chesky, Medium, October 2013. https://medium.com/@bchesky/dont-fuck-up-the-culture-597cde9ee9d4↩↩

  33. “Brian Chesky, Airbnb co-founder: Peter Thiel’s one piece of advice for entrepreneurs is about company culture.” Slate, May 2014. https://slate.com/business/2014/05/brian-chesky-airbnb-co-founder-peter-thiels-one-piece-of-advice-for-entrepreneurs-is-about-company-culture.html↩↩

  34. “Palmer Luckey, American Vulcan.” Tablet Magazine. https://www.tabletmag.com/feature/american-vulcan-palmer-luckey-anduril. Accessed March 2026. ↩

  35. “Hardware testing startup Nominal hits $1B valuation, raises $155M in 10 months.” TechCrunch, March 5, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/05/hardware-testing-startup-nominal-hits-1b-valuation-raises-155m-in-10-months/↩

  36. Cognition, “Introducing Devin, the first AI software engineer,” March 12, 2024. https://cognition.ai/blog/introducing-devin↩

  37. “Cognition AI.” Wikipedia. Accessed April 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition_AI↩

  38. “Report: Cognition Business Breakdown & Founding Story.” Contrary Research. Accessed April 2026. https://research.contrary.com/company/cognition↩

  39. Crusoe, “Crusoe Closes $600M in Series D Round at $2.8 Billion Valuation to Power AI,” December 12, 2024. https://www.crusoe.ai/resources/newsroom/crusoe-closes-series-d-funding↩

  40. GlobeNewswire, “Crusoe Closes $600M in Series D Round at $2.8 Billion Valuation to Power AI,” December 12, 2024. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/12/12/2996138/0/en/Crusoe-Closes-600M-in-Series-D-Round-at-2-8-Billion-Valuation-to-Power-AI.html↩

  41. “Crusoe, a rumored OpenAI data center supplier, has secured $686M in new funds, filing shows.” TechCrunch, November 21, 2024. https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/21/crusoe-a-rumored-openai-data-center-supplier-has-secured-686m-in-new-funds-filing-shows/↩

  42. GlobeNewsWire, “Nominal Valued at $1B as Founders Fund Leads $80M Acceleration Round,” March 5, 2026, accessed April 2026. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/03/05/3250350/0/en/Nominal-Valued-at-1B-as-Founders-Fund-Leads-80M-Acceleration-Round.html — Confirms March 5, 2026 announcement; $80M Series B-2 Acceleration Round led by Founders Fund at $1B valuation; Sequoia, Lux, General Catalyst, Lightspeed, and Red Glass participated. ↩

  43. Anthropic press release, “Anthropic raises $30 billion in Series G funding at $380 billion post-money valuation,” February 12, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-raises-30-billion-series-g-funding-380-billion-post-money-valuation — $30B Series G announced February 12, 2026 at $380B post-money valuation; led by GIC and Coatue with co-leads D. E. Shaw Ventures, Dragoneer, Founders Fund, ICONIQ, and MGX. ↩

  44. TechCrunch, “Anthropic raises another $30B in Series G, with a new value of $380B,” February 12, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/12/anthropic-raises-another-30-billion-in-series-g-with-a-new-value-of-380-billion/↩

  45. CNBC, “OpenAI closes $40 billion funding round, largest private tech deal on record,” March 31, 2025. Accessed May 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/31/openai-closes-40-billion-in-funding-the-largest-private-fundraise-in-history-softbank-chatgpt.html — $40B Series F closed March 31, 2025 at $300B post-money valuation; led by SoftBank ($30B) with $10B syndicate including Founders Fund, Magnetar Capital, Coatue, Microsoft, Altimeter Capital, and Thrive Capital. Cross-referenced with TechCrunch, “OpenAI raises $40B at $300B post-money valuation,” March 31, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/31/openai-raises-40b-at-300b-post-money-valuation/↩

  46. Enter newsroom, “Enter raises $100M+ to become Latin America’s first AI unicorn,” May 5, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://www.getenter.ai/en/news/enter-levanta-mais-de-us-100-milhoes-e-se-torna-o-primeiro-unicornio-de-ia-da-america-latina — São Paulo-based Enter announced $100M+ Series B at $1.2B valuation on May 5, 2026, led by Founders Fund with Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, ONEVC, Atlantico, and Kaszek participating; Latin America’s first AI unicorn. ↩

  47. PR Newswire, “Greenberg Traurig Represents Enter in $100M Series B, Creating Latin America’s First AI Unicorn,” May 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/greenberg-traurig-represents-enter-in-100m-series-b-creating-latin-americas-first-ai-unicorn-302767169.html↩

  48. TechCrunch, “Anduril raises $5B, doubles valuation to $61B,” May 13, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/13/anduril-raises-5b-doubles-valuation-to-61b/ — Series H closed May 13, 2026 at $5B / $61B post-money led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz; Founders Fund (existing) also participated. ↩

  49. SiliconAngle, “Anduril doubles valuation to $61B in new $5B funding round,” May 13, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://siliconangle.com/2026/05/13/anduril-doubles-valuation-61b-new-5b-funding-round/ — Independent confirmation of $5B Series H at $61B post-money. Cross-referenced with Axios (March 2026) reporting Founders Fund and Lux Capital as existing investors participating: https://www.axios.com/2026/03/04/anduril-palmer-luckey-valuation↩

  50. Tech.eu, “UK AI chip startup Fractile raises $220M to tackle the growing inference bottleneck,” May 13, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://tech.eu/2026/05/13/uk-ai-chip-startup-fractile-raises-220m-to-tackle-the-growing-inference-bottleneck/ — $220M Series B co-led by Accel, Factorial Funds, and Founders Fund with participation from Conviction, Gigascale, O1A, Felicis, Buckley Ventures, and 8VC. ↩

  51. Sifted, “Accel and Thiel’s Founders Fund back Fractile in $220m raise,” May 13, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://sifted.eu/articles/fractile-220m-accel — Independent confirmation of $220M Series B closing May 13, 2026 led by Accel, Factorial Funds, and Founders Fund. ↩

  52. TechCrunch, “Eyeing International Growth, Stripe Raises $80M From Founders Fund, Khosla And Sequoia At A $1.75B Valuation,” January 22, 2014. Accessed May 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/22/with-an-eye-to-international-growth-payments-company-stripe-raises-80m-from-peter-thiel-khosla-and-sequoia-at-a-1-25b-valuation/ — Stripe Series C announced January 22, 2014; $80M+ at $1.75B valuation; Founders Fund led with Khosla Ventures (new), Sequoia (existing), and Allen & Co. participating. ↩

  53. FinSMEs, “Stripe Raises $80M in Series C Funding,” January 23, 2014. Accessed May 2026. https://www.finsmes.com/2014/01/stripe-raises-80m-in-series-c-fundingstripe-raises-80m-in-series-c-funding.html — Independent confirmation of $80M+ Stripe Series C led by Founders Fund with Khosla Ventures, Sequoia, and Allen & Co. participating. ↩

  54. TechCrunch, “Airbnb’s Nate Blecharczyk Confirms It Raised A $200M Round Led By Founders Fund,” October 28, 2013. Accessed May 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/28/airbnb-200m/ — Airbnb Series C of $200M confirmed by co-founder/CTO Nate Blecharczyk; led by Founders Fund — at the time, Founders Fund’s largest deal to date. ↩

  55. GlobeNewsWire, “Monaco Secures $50 Million in Series B Funding to Grow AI-Powered Sales Platform Amid Strong Customer Demand,” May 12, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/05/12/3293132/0/en/monaco-secures-50-million-in-series-b-funding-to-grow-ai-powered-sales-platform-amid-strong-customer-demand.html — $50M Series B led by Benchmark with Founders Fund (returning investor “tripling down”), Human Capital, Alt Cap, Mantis, Saga VC, and angels Garry Tan, Neil Mehta, John Collison, Patrick Collison. ↩

  56. PR Newswire, “Armada Announces Agreement with Johnson Controls for Galleon Forge One; Raises $230M in Oversubscribed Series B with a Pre-Money Valuation of $2B,” May 19, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/armada-announces-agreement-with-johnson-controls-for-galleon-forge-one-raises-230m-in-oversubscribed-series-b-with-a-pre-money-valuation-of-2b-to-accelerate-deployment-of-the-us-ai-stack-and-support-explosive-customer-demand–302775720.html — Confirms Founders Fund participated in Armada’s $230M Series B on May 19, 2026 at $2B pre-money valuation; round co-led by Overmatch, BlackRock, and 8090 Industries with new strategic investors Johnson Controls, NightDragon, Mitsui, and Singtel Innov8 alongside existing investors Felicis, Marlinspike, Shield Capital, Lux Capital, Silent Ventures, Veriten, and Gladebrook. ↩

  57. TechCrunch, “AI coding startup Cognition raises $1B at $25B pre-money valuation,” May 27, 2026. Accessed May 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/27/ai-coding-startup-cognition-raises-1b-at-25b-pre-money-valuation/ — Confirms Founders Fund participated in Cognition’s $1B+ round on May 27, 2026 at $26B post-money; Lux Capital, General Catalyst, and 8VC co-led; Elad Gil, Soma Capital, Omri Casspi, Ribbit Capital, Atreides, and Layer Global also participated. ↩

  58. TechCrunch, “Rocket engine startup Impulse raises $500 million to hire people, not AI,” June 2, 2026. Accessed June 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/02/rocket-engine-startup-impulse-raises-500-million-to-hire-people-not-ai/ — Confirms Founders Fund participated in Impulse Space’s $500M Series D on June 2, 2026 at $4.26B post-money valuation; 137 Ventures and BANNER VC co-led; Lux Capital and Linse Capital also participated. ↩

  59. NewLimit blog, “NewLimit raises $435M led by Founders Fund to bring longevity medicines to human trials,” June 2, 2026. Accessed June 2026. https://blog.newlimit.com/p/newlimit-raises-435m-led-by-founders — $435M Series C led by Founders Fund; new investors Thrive Capital, Greenoaks, and Quiet Capital; returning investors Kleiner Perkins, Abstract, Nat Friedman/Daniel Gross, Valor Equity Partners, Eli Lilly Ventures, Human Capital. ↩

  60. STAT News, “Longevity startup NewLimit raises $435 million ahead of first clinical trial,” June 2, 2026. Accessed June 2026. https://www.statnews.com/2026/06/02/longevity-startup-newlimit-announces-435-million-clinical-trial-financing/ — Independent confirmation: $435M Series C led by Founders Fund; ~$3.1B post-money valuation; South San Francisco-based; participants include Thrive Capital, Lilly Ventures, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross. ↩

  61. Endpoints News, “Anti-aging startup NewLimit raises $435M at $3B+ valuation, eyes clinic in 2027,” June 2, 2026. Accessed June 2026. https://endpoints.news/anti-aging-biotech-newlimit-raises-435m-at-3b-valuation/ — Third independent confirmation of $435M Series C at $3.1B valuation led by Founders Fund. ↩