Founders Fund Portfolio: AI Startups Backed by Peter Thiel’s Firm (2026 Tracker)
Founders Fund’s AI playbook at a glance. See the startups that Peter Thiel–backed firm has funded, from Anthropic and Scale AI to emerging bets like Netic AI.
Founded by Peter Thiel, Brian Singerman, and other PayPal Mafia alums, Founders Fund has a reputation for swinging early and swinging big on frontier tech (SpaceX, Palantir, Facebook).
In the GenAI era, they’re leaning hard into:
- Defense & dual-use AI – aligning with the firm’s “competing with nation-states” thesis.
- Compute & chip efficiency – anything that breaks the GPU bottleneck.
- Agentic software that replaces, not just augments, knowledge work.
Below is a live tracker of the AI-first companies they’ve funded in the last 18 months.
💸 Founders Fund AI Portfolio (Live Tracker)
| Company | Sector | Latest Round | Amount Raised | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Foundation Models / Frontier AI | Series F | $13B | 2025 | Early Founders Fund backer; competing at nation-state scale |
| Anduril | Autonomous Defense Systems | Series G | $2.5B | 2025 | Largest Founders Fund check ever; defense autonomy cornerstone |
| Scale AI | AI Infrastructure / Data & RAG | Series F | $1B | 2024 | Data pipelines and eval infrastructure for frontier models |
| Netic AI | Agentic Software / Revenue Ops | Series A | $20M | 2025 | Autonomous AI agents that execute workflows end-to-end |
| Hadrian | AI Manufacturing / Defense Industrial Base | Series C | $260M | 2025 | AI-driven factories for aerospace and defense components |
| Varda Space Industries | Space + AI Biomanufacturing | Series C | $187M | 2025 | Microgravity manufacturing with AI-assisted materials science |
| Rescale | Cloud HPC for AI | Series C | $105M | 2023 | High-performance computing platform for AI workloads |
| Vercel | Developer Experience / AI Tooling | Series D | $150M | 2024 | Next.js + v0 AI powering AI-native web development |
| Palantir | AI-Driven Data Platforms | Public (NYSE: PLTR) | — | IPO 2019 | Founders Fund’s original AI thesis bet |
| Neuralink | Neuro-AI / Brain-Computer Interfaces | Private Round | $600M (reported) | 2025 | Long-horizon human–AI interface bet |
(Dollar figures reflect the most recent disclosed round. Some late-stage raises include strategic capital and secondary components.)
Know a startup we missed? Email us to get it added.
Top Founders Fund–Backed AI Companies
1. Anduril
- Round: $2.5B Series G (2025), FF led with ~$1B
- Sector: Defense Autonomy – Dual-use AI Systems
- What They Do: Builds AI-driven autonomous defense platforms (air, sea, land) powered by Lattice OS.
- Why It Matters: Largest check in Founders Fund history; underscores their “competing with nation-states” thesis and positions Anduril as the prime defense AI contractor.
2. Hadrian
- Round: $260M Series C (2025), co-led by FF & Lux
- Sector: AI Factories – Advanced Manufacturing for Defense/Aerospace
- What They Do: Runs automated “factories-as-a-service” that use AI + robotics to rapidly produce aerospace and defense components.
- Why It Matters: Reinforces U.S. industrial base resilience; aligns with FF’s bet on hard-tech autonomy at scale.
3. Netic AI
- Round: $20M Series A (2025), participants include FF
- Sector: Agentic Software – Revenue Operations
- What They Do: Deploys autonomous AI agents that book jobs, handle scheduling, and close deals for essential services providers.
- Why It Matters: Pushes the shift from assistive to fully agentic AI—software that executes, not just suggests.
4. Varda Space Industries
- Round: $187M Series C (2025), FF participated
- Sector: Space + AI-Enabled Biomanufacturing
- What They Do: Uses microgravity to manufacture pharmaceuticals in orbit, with AI-assisted crystallization and materials science.
- Why It Matters: Expands FF’s dual-use strategy into space; blends biotech, pharma, and aerospace for frontier markets.
5. Scale AI
- Round: $1B Series F (2024), FF participated
- Sector: AI Infrastructure – Data Labeling & RAG
- What They Do: Provides the data pipelines, eval, and reinforcement frameworks that power training and deployment of frontier AI models.
- Why It Matters: The “data foundry” of the AI era—critical infrastructure layer that underpins every agent and LLM.
6. Neuralink
- Round: $600M raise (2025, reported); $280M Series D (2023) led by FF
- Sector: Neuro-AI / Brain–Computer Interfaces
- What They Do: Develops brain implants enabling direct interaction between humans and AI systems.
- Why It Matters: A long-horizon bet consistent with FF’s frontier ethos; potential to redefine human–AI symbiosis.
7. Anthropic
- Round: $13B Series F (2025), valuation $183B post-money
- Sector: Foundation Models – Frontier AI
- What They Do: Developer of Claude AI; builds frontier-scale LLMs with Constitutional AI framework.
- Why It Matters: One of the “Big Three” foundation model labs; Founders Fund’s early participation shows alignment with its strategy to back AI platforms competing at nation-state scale.
Why Founders Fund Strategy Signal
• Defense-first AI: Anduril and Hadrian reflect a belief that AI’s most durable demand comes from national security and industrial resilience.
• Frontier-scale bets: Anthropic and Neuralink show willingness to fund at nation-state scale, not incremental SaaS.
• Compute stress tests: Defense, data, and manufacturing workloads push current GPU limits, reinforcing the need for new chips and infrastructure.
• From tools to autonomy: Netic AI and Palantir signal a shift toward agentic systems that execute decisions, not just assist humans.
Related Trackers
- NVentures (Nvidia) AI Portfolio
- a16z AI Portfolio: Startups Backed by Andreessen Horowitz
- Thrive Capital Portfolio: AI Startups Backed by Thrive
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