PANews reported on December 25 that Axios has learned from multiple sources that Founders Fund, a venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, is raising about $3 billion for its third growth equity fund. Founders Fund has not yet provided potential investors with an official target size for the new fund, but said $3 billion would be the approximate size.
Founders Fund has invested in some of the world's most valuable technology startups, including SpaceX and Stripe. As Thiel has long supported President-elect Trump and the company has made multiple investments with Musk, it will also have a chance to enter the incoming White House. Founders Fund has also invested in multiple crypto projects, including Pudgy Penguins' parent company Igloo, Inc., Bitcoin lending platform Lava, Bitcoin rollup project Citrea, etc.
Founders Fund successfully raised $3.4 billion for its second growth equity fund in 2022, and $1.8 billion for its eighth early-stage fund. However, at the beginning of last year, they decided to split the early-stage fund in two because they perceived that there were relatively few investment opportunities in the market. But as of now, they have not started investing in what is now called the "ninth fund." In addition, although there have been discussions about splitting the growth fund, it has not been implemented. Now, most of the funds of the fund have been deployed, including investments in capital-intensive AI companies.
