Peter Thiel
Also known as Peter A. Thiel
Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur and investor whose Founders Fund now backs AI companies, including Sentient and Arda. He co-founded PayPal and served as its chief executive until eBay bought the company in 2002, and he launched Palantir in 2003. He launched Founders Fund in 2005 and founded the Thiel Fellowship in 2011. In 2024 Founders Fund led an $85 million seed round for the open-source AI platform Sentient. As of October 2026, he is a partner at Founders Fund and chairman of Palantir Technologies.
- Now at
- Palantir Technologies and Founders Fund
Timeline
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1989
Editing The Stanford Review
He is the first editor-in-chief of The Stanford Review until he graduates in 1989.
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1998–2002
Co-founding PayPal
He co-founds PayPal with Max Levchin and Luke Nosek in 1998, and he serves as its chief executive until eBay buys it for $1.5 billion in 2002.
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2003
Launching Palantir
In 2003 he launches Palantir, a big data analysis company, and serves as its chairman.
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2004–2005
Facebook's first outside investor
He becomes Facebook's first outside investor in 2004 with a 10.2% stake for $500,000. In 2005 he launches Founders Fund with PayPal partners.
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2011
Founding the Thiel Fellowship
He founds the Thiel Fellowship in 2011, a two-year program for young people who want to build new things.
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2024
Backing an open-source AI platform
Founders Fund leads an $85 million seed round for Sentient, an open-source AI platform, in 2024.
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2026
Backing the AI startup Arda
In 2026, Founders Fund co-leads investments in Arda, an AI startup.
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As of October 2026
Partner at Founders Fund
He is a partner at Founders Fund and serves as chairman of Palantir Technologies.
Sources and credits
Photo: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.
