Founders_Fund

Founders Fund

Founders Fund

San Francisco-based venture capital firm

Founders Fund is a San Francisco based venture capital firm formed in 2005 and has roughly $12 billion in total assets under management as of 2023.[1] Founders Fund was the first institutional investor in Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Palantir Technologies, and early investor in Facebook.[2][3][4] The firm's partners have been founders, early employees and investors at companies including PayPal, Palantir Technologies, Anduril Industries and SpaceX.[5]

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History

Peter Thiel

The firm was organized by Peter Thiel, Ken Howery, and Luke Nosek in early 2005 and raised its first fund of $50 million from individual entrepreneurs and angel investors in January of that year.[6] Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and ex-president of Facebook, joined in 2006.[6] In 2007, the firm raised a new fund of $220 million.[7]

In 2010, the firm raised its third fund, with $250 million in committed capital,[8] and in 2011, a fourth fund with $625 million of committed capital was raised.[9][10]

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.[11]

In 2016, Founders Fund raised a sixth, $1.3 billion fund, bringing the firm's aggregate capital under management to more than $3 billion.[12]

In 2020, Founders Fund raised a seventh flagship fund and its first growth fund, representing $3 billion in new capital and bringing the firm's aggregate capital under management to more than $6 billion.[13]

In 2022, Founders Fund raised an eighth flagship fund and its second growth fund, representing over $5 billion in new capital and bringing the firm's aggregate capital under management to more than $11 billion.[14]

In 2023, Founders Fund advised companies to withdraw money from Silicon Valley Bank upon announcement of their attempt to raise capital, helping to spur a bank run on the bank and inducing the FDIC to take over.[15]

In March 2023, Founders Fund quietly cut the size of its eighth venture capital fund in half, from around $1.8 billion to around $900 million, to adapt to uncertain market conditions.[16]

Partners

As of winter 2023, the firm had thirteen Partners:

  • Lauren Gross[18]
  • Scott Nolan[19]
  • Trae Stephens
  • Napoleon Ta[18]
  • Matias Van Thienen[18]
  • Sam Blond
  • Joey Krug
  • Delian Asparouhov
  • Jennifer Campbell
  • Ryan Petersen

Former partners include:

Investments

Founders Fund is a generalist firm investing in companies across all sectors, stages and geographies.[citation needed]

The firm's investments include Airbnb, Armada,[25] DeepMind, Lyft, Facebook, Flexport, Palantir Technologies, SpaceX, Spotify, Stripe, Wish, Neuralink, Nubank, and Twilio.[26]

References

  1. [1]
    "A look inside Founders Fund, as it closes on $5 billion across two new funds". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  2. [2]
    "Thiel's Founders Fund sells remaining Facebook shares". Reuters. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  3. [3]
    "Private rocket company SpaceX gets $20M from The Founders Fund". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  4. [4]
    "Palantir Technologies Files to Go Public". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  5. [5]
    Brehse, Tami. "The 'PayPal Mafia' formed in the early 2000s, and includes everyone from Elon Musk to the Yelp founders. Here's where the original members have ended up". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  6. [6]
    Guynn, Jessica (December 13, 2006). "The Founders Fund emerges as venture capital 2.0". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-01-20.
  7. [7]
    Jessica Guynn (December 18, 2007). "Facebook backer now a rival to venture capitalists". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  8. [8]
    Founders Fund raises $250M vehicle (July 19, 2010). "Founders Fund raises $250M vehicle". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved August 27, 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. [9]
    Rusli, Evelyn M. (December 1, 2011). "Peter Thiel's Founders Fund Raises $625 Million". New York Times.
  10. [10]
    "Want A Piece Of Founders Fund's Latest $625M Fund? Start By Trying To Change The World". TechCrunch. 16 December 2011. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  11. [11]
    VentureBeat (March 5, 2014). "Founders Fund raises a big $1B fund to plunk into startups". VentureBeat. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  12. [12]
    Scott Martin (March 25, 2016). "Peter Thiel's Founders Fund Bags $1.3 Billion". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  13. [13]
    "Founders Fund stocks up with $3B across two funds". PitchBook. February 20, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  14. [14]
    "Founders Fund Raises $5 Billion for Early- to Late-Stage Deals". Bloomberg. March 3, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  15. [15]
    Hogg, Ryan (11 March 2023). "Peter Thiel's Founders Fund got its cash out of Silicon Valley Bank before it was shut down, report says". Business Insider. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  16. [16]
    "Founders Fund". Angelspartners.com. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  17. [17]
    Primack, Dan. "Peter Thiel's Founders Fund isn't really Peter Thiel's Founders Fund". Axios. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  18. [18]
    "Founders Fund Raises $5 Billion for Early- to Late-Stage Deals". Mergers & Acquisitions. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  19. [19]
    "VC Scott Nolan on using what he learned at SpaceX to invest at Founders Fund - Silicon Valley Business Journal". The Business Journals. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  20. [20]
    "Kevin Hartz Is Stepping Down as Partner at Founders Fund". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  21. [21]
    "Sean Parker formally leaves Founders Fund". Fortune. March 6, 2014.
  22. [22]
    Josh Constine (December 11, 2012). "Founders Fund Partner Bruce Gibney Has Left The Firm". Tech Crunch. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  23. [23]
    Susannah Birkwood (October 31, 2012). "Profile: Founders Fund's Bruce Gibney". Asian Venture Capital Journal. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  24. [24]
    McBride, Sarah (18 August 2017). "Founders Fund's Geoff Lewis Leaves to Start His Own Fund". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  25. [25]
    Konrad, Alex. "Startup Armada Is Bringing AI To Remote Places, Using SpaceX Starlink Satellites". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  26. [26]
    "Portfolio". Founders Fund. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
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