Founders Fund
 |
| Type |
Venture fund |
| Industry |
Finance |
| Founded |
July 2005 |
| Headquarters |
San Francisco, California |
| Website |
www.foundersfund.com |
Founders Fund is a San Francisco based venture capital investment firm. The firm’s six partners, Peter Thiel, Sean Parker, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, Bruce Gibney, and Brian Singerman have been founders of or early investors in numerous companies, such as Facebook, PayPal, Napster, and Palantir Technologies. Founders Fund was formed in 2005 and has launched four suites of funds to date with more than $1 billion in aggregate capital under management.
[edit] 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 suite of funds, with $250 million in committed capital[3], and in 2011, a fourth suite of funds with $625 million of committed capital was raised.[4][5]
As of the end of 2011 the firm was made up of the following partners:
- Peter Thiel, founder and former CEO and Chairman of PayPal[6]
- Ken Howery, founder and former CFO of PayPal[6]
- Luke Nosek, founder and former Vice President of PayPal[6]
- Sean Parker, former president of Plaxo and Facebook, served as Managing Partner from the time he left Facebook in 2008 until 2011, when his title became Executive General Partner.[7]
- Bruce Gibney[6]
- Brian Singerman[6]
[edit] Investments
Some of the Fund's investments include Facebook, Powerset, Quantcast, Slide, Geni, Causes, SpaceX, Spotify, Knewton, Practice Fusion, ZocDoc, IronPort, Yammer, Pathway Genomics, Path, and Votizen.[8][9]
[edit] References
- ^ Guynn, Jessica (December 13, 2006). "The Founders Fund emerges as venture capital 2.0". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/13/MNGECMUMRE1.DTL. Retrieved 2007-01-20.
- ^ Jessica Guynn (December 18, 2007). "Facebook backer now a rival to venture capitalists". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2007-12-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20071219162336/http://www.latimes.com/business/investing/la-fi-founders18dec18,1,6840237.story?coll=la-headlines-business-invest. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ . San Francisco Business Times. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2010/07/19/daily16.html.
- ^ http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/founders-fund-closes-fourth-suite-of-funds-134849573.html
- ^ Rusli, Evelyn M. (December 1, 2011). "Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund Raises $625 Million". New York Times. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/peter-thiels-founders-fund-raises-625-million/.
- ^ a b c d e "Founders Fund Closes Fourth Suite of Funds". PRNewswire. December 1, 2011. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/founders-fund-closes-fourth-suite-of-funds-2011-12-01.
- ^ Dickinson, Boonsri (December 9, 2011). "No, Sean Parker Didn't Just Get Ousted From Founders Fund". Business Insider. http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-09/tech/30497223_1_sean-parker-napster-co-founder-shawn-fanning.
- ^ Arrington, Michael (December 17, 2007). "Founders Fund Closes $220 Million Second Fund". TechCrunch. http://techcrunch.com/2007/12/17/founders-fund-closes-220-million-second-fund/.
- ^ http://www.foundersfund.com/
[edit] External links
|
|
|
| Investment strategy |
|
|
|
| History |
|
|
| Investors |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Individuals |
|
|
Companies founded
or co-founded |
|
|
| Investments |
|
|
| Funds |
|
|
| Other |
|
|
