Founders Fund
| Venture fund | |
| Industry | Finance |
| Founded | July 2005 |
| Headquarters | Letterman Digital Arts Center San Francisco, California |
|
Key people
|
Peter Thiel Ken Howery Luke Nosek Brian Singerman Lauren Gross Geoff Lewis Scott Nolan |
| Website | www.foundersfund.com |
Founders Fund is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm investing in companies building revolutionary technologies. The firm invests at all stages across a wide variety of sectors, including aerospace, artificial intelligence, advanced computing, energy, health, and consumer Internet, with a portfolio that includes Airbnb, Knewton, Lyft, Spotify, Stripe, and ZocDoc. Founders Fund was the first institutional investor in Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Palantir Technologies, and one of the earliest investors in Facebook. The firm’s four General Partners, Peter Thiel, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, and Brian Singerman, have been founders and early employees of companies including PayPal, Google, Palantir Technologies, and SpaceX. Formed in 2005, Founders Fund had more than $2 billion in aggregate capital under management as of 2014.
History
The firm was organized by Peter Thiel and Ken Howery in early 2005 and raised its first fund of $50 million from individual entrepreneurs and angel investors in January of that year. In 2006, Sean Parker, an early employee of Napster and ex-president of Facebook, and Luke Nosek joined as managing partners.[1] In 2007, the firm raised a new fund of $220 million.[2]
In 2010, the firm raised its third fund, with $250 million in committed capital,[3] and in 2011, a fourth fund with $625 million of committed capital was raised.[4][5]
In 2014, Founders Fund raised a $1 billion fifth suite of funds, bringing the firm's aggregate capital under management to more than $2 billion. [6]
Partners
As of the fall of 2014, the firm was made up of the following partners:
- Peter Thiel, founder and former CEO and chairman of PayPal[7]
- Ken Howery, founder and former CFO of PayPal[7]
- Luke Nosek, founder and former vice president of PayPal[7]
- Brian Singerman, founder of iGoogle[7]
Investments
Unlike many venture capital funds in Silicon Valley, Founders Fund does not limit itself to Web 2.0 companies. According to its website,[8] Founders Fund invests in the following six areas:
- biotechnology and health
- consumer Internet and media
- advanced machines and artificial intelligence
- aerospace and transportation
- analytics and software
- energy
Some of the firm's investments include Facebook, SpaceX, Spotify, Palantir Technologies, Airbnb, Lyft, Yammer, Stripe, 140 Proof, Knewton, Practice Fusion, Quantcast, Nanotronics Imaging, ZocDoc, Planet Labs, Pathway Genomics, and Vicarious Systems.[8][9]
References
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- ↑ Founders Fund Closes Fourth Suite of Funds - SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/. Prnewswire.com (2011-12-01). Retrieved on 2013-10-23.
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- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Founders Fund. Founders Fund. Retrieved on 2013-10-23.
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External links
- Founders Fund (official website)
