Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Founders Fund
San Francisco-based venture capital firm From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Founders Fund is an American venture capital fund formed in 2005 and based in San Francisco. The fund has roughly $17 billion in total assets under management as of 2025.[1][2] Founders Fund was the first institutional investor in Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Palantir Technologies, and an early investor in Facebook.[3][4][5] The firm's partners have been founders, early employees and investors at companies including PayPal, Palantir Technologies, Anduril Industries and SpaceX.[6]
The firm's investments include Airbnb, Anduril, DeepMind, Rippling, Facebook, Ramp, Palantir Technologies, Pudgy Penguins, SpaceX, Spotify, Stripe, Neuralink, and Nubank.[7][8]
Notable partners include Peter Thiel[9] and Trae Stephens.[10] Former partners include Brian Singerman,[9][11] Keith Rabois,[12] Cyan Banister, Ken Howery,[9] Kevin Hartz,[13] Sean Parker,[14] and Bruce Gibney.[15][16]
Remove ads
History
Summarize
Perspective

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.[17] Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and ex-president of Facebook, joined in 2006.[17] In 2007, the firm raised a new fund of $220 million.[18]
In 2010, the firm raised its third fund, with $250 million in committed capital,[19] and in 2011, a fourth fund with $625 million of committed capital was raised.[20][21]
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.[22]
In 2016, Founders Fund raised a sixth, $1.3 billion fund, bringing the firm's aggregate capital under management to more than $3 billion.[23]
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.[24]
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.[12]
In March 2023, Founders Fund 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.[25][better source needed]
In 2025, Founders Fund raised its third growth fund, Founders Fund Growth III, at $4.6 billion for late-stage investments.[26]
Remove ads
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads