Peter Thiel is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Founders Fund. See portfolio, sector focus and contact routes.
Peter Thiel is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Founders Fund, a San Francisco venture capital firm he launched in 2005 with PayPal colleagues Ken Howery and Luke Nosek after serving as PayPal’s CEO and taking it public[1][3]. His investment thesis targets transformative, hard-tech companies solving difficult problems, with a focus on sectors like aerospace, defense technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and fintech across the United States[1][6]. Founders Fund typically invests from early stages through late-stage growth, as evidenced by its $4.6 billion Growth III fund closed in 2025 for later-stage ventures[12]. Thiel often leads investments and has provided early funding for dozens of startups, frequently backing former PayPal colleagues known as the “PayPal Mafia”[1]. Notable portfolio companies include Facebook (where he made the first outside investment), Palantir Technologies (which he co-founded and chairs), SpaceX, and Airbnb[1][12]. Thiel is known for a contrarian point of view, famously stating, “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters,” and is the bestselling author of *Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future*[1][14].
Details on this investor come from filing and round data held in the StartupFundraising directory, refreshed on ingest. Founders use profiles like this one to qualify fit and to shortlist investors in San Francisco.
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