Thiel launches Founders Fund venture capital firm

Peter Thiel organized Founders Fund in early 2005 with Ken Howery and Luke Nosek, both PayPal co-founders, raising an initial $50 million from individual entrepreneurs. The San Francisco firm became the first institutional investor in SpaceX and Palantir and an early backer of Facebook, Airbnb, Stripe, and Anduril. By 2025 it managed roughly $17 billion in assets, giving Thiel a sustained pipeline of founder relationships and political influence vehicles.