Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur, investor, and venture capitalist, recognized for co-founding PayPal and Palantir Technologies, as well as being the first outside investor in Facebook. After founding Thiel Capital Management in 1996, raising $1 million in venture capital, Peter Thiel went on to co-found Fieldlink in 1998, which developed PayPal, an online payment system. He served as CEO of PayPal until its acquisition by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002, the same year PayPal went public. With proceeds from the acquisition, Thiel launched Clarium Capital Management, a global macro hedge fund, in 2002.

Continuing to champion unconventional ventures, he became the lead funder of the Enhanced Games in 2024. Building on a dynamic investment trajectory, 2025 saw Thiel making significant investments in SentientAGI, Impulse Space, Crusoe, Erebor, EnduroSat, Varda, and Hadrian. In a further commitment to fostering innovation, the Thiel Fellowship increased its grant to $200,000 in 2025, empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators.