Founders Fund

Peter Thiel, Ken Howery, and Luke Nosek - all veterans of PayPal's founding team - launched Founders Fund in 2005 with a deliberately contrarian philosophy: back ambitious, technically difficult companies that other VCs pass on for being too weird or too capital-intensive. That thesis led directly to the firm becoming the first institutional investor in both SpaceX and Palantir, two of the highest-conviction, longest-held bets in the firm's history.

$12B+ AUM 81/100 Power Score™ 2005 Founded San Francisco, CA
Aerospace Defense Tech Hard Tech
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Signature Exit

SpaceX's June 2026 IPO - an estimated ~80x return on Founders Fund's original stake

Key Partners & Leadership

Peter Thiel
Co-Founder
Ken Howery
Co-Founder
Luke Nosek
Co-Founder

Firm Timeline

2005
Three PayPal Mafia veterans - Thiel, Howery, and Nosek - found the firm on a contrarian, hard-tech thesis.
2008
Becomes an early investor in SpaceX, a bet that would compound for nearly two decades.
2010s
Becomes the first institutional investor in Palantir, another long-held, high-conviction position.
2026
SpaceX goes public, turning the firm's original 2008 stake into an estimated ~80x return.

Notable Public Portfolio Companies

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