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Person

Peter Thiel

Investor; co-founder of PayPal and Palantir; Facebook's first outside investor.

11 links, 8 backed by primary records

Play the story Explore connections

Dates
11 Oct 1967 –
Also known as
Peter A. Thiel, Peter Andreas Thiel
Background
Over time
  1. Life 11 Oct 1967 –
  2. worked at Founders Fund (Partner) 2005 –
  3. board member of Meta Platforms Apr 2005 – May 2022
  4. citizen of New Zealand 2011 –

Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal in 1998, where he crossed paths with Elon Musk, and became Facebook’s first outside investor in 2004: $500,000 for 10.2%. He sat on Facebook’s board from April 2005 to May 2022.

In 2003 he co-founded Palantir Technologies, which built software for US intelligence and counted In-Q-Tel, the venture firm set up by the Central Intelligence Agency, among its early backers. These are documented business links; no source cited here says the CIA had any role in Facebook.

Connections 11

founded

worked at

  • Founders Fund 2005 – Partner Primary record 8910

    TechCrunch quoted a statement from Thiel about Scale in its report on the August 2019 Series C.

citizen of

  • New Zealand 2011 – Primary record 123

    Approved by ministerial decision on 30 June 2011 under section 9(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act; he attended a private citizenship ceremony at the New Zealand Consulate in Santa Monica in August 2011.

  • United States Primary record 34
  • Germany Primary record 25

    As recorded in New Zealand's 2011 citizenship file; no later source checked here says whether he still holds it.

board member of

invested in

  • Meta Platforms 2004 first outside investor (10.2%), $500,000 Scholarship & press 12
  • Quora May 2012 led the $50 million round Scholarship & press 13

    TechCrunch reported that Thiel led the round personally and not through Founders Fund; his own amount is not stated.

funded

  • OpenAI Dec 2015 donor Primary record 14

born in

Timeline 9 dates
  1. 11 Oct 1967 – Peter Thiel
  2. 1998 Peter Thiel founded PayPal
  3. 2003 Peter Thiel founded Palantir Technologies
  4. 2004 Peter Thiel invested in Meta Platforms
  5. 2005 – Peter Thiel worked at Founders Fund
  6. Apr 2005 – May 2022 Peter Thiel board member of Meta Platforms
  7. 2011 – Peter Thiel citizen of New Zealand
  8. May 2012 Peter Thiel invested in Quora
  9. Dec 2015 Peter Thiel funded OpenAI
Proof 14 sources
  1. New Zealand Citizenship of Mr Peter Thiel (updated 25 January 2018), Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), 25 Jan 2018. Primary record
    His application was approved by Ministerial decision, under Section 9(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act on 30 June 2011.
  2. Peter Thiel's unusual path to New Zealand citizenship, CBS News (Associated Press), 1 Feb 2017. Scholarship & press
    He was granted citizenship during a private ceremony held at the New Zealand Consulate in Santa Monica.
    The 2011 documents show that Thiel also remained a citizen of Germany, where he was born.
  3. Peter Thiel's money may have propelled his bid for New Zealand citizenship, The New York Times (via CNBC), 1 Feb 2017. Scholarship & press
    The 49-year-old investor, who was born in Germany, was granted New Zealand citizenship in 2011 but kept his American citizenship.
  4. Oklo Inc. Schedule 13G filed by Mithril II LP and others, including Peter Thiel, Mithril II LP et al., 20 May 2024. Primary record
    Thiel is a citizen of the United States of America.
  5. Peter Thiel - Release of Citizenship Information, 1 February 2017, Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), 1 Feb 2017. Primary record
    Present citizenships: German and U.S.
  6. Facebook, Inc. registration statement (Form S-1), February 2012, Meta Platforms, 1 Feb 2012. Primary record
    In 1998, Mr. Thiel co-founded PayPal, Inc., an online payment company, where he served as Chief Executive Officer, President and as Chairman of its board of directors from 2000 until its acquisition by eBay in 2002.
    Peter A. Thiel has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2005.
  7. Palantir Technologies Inc. registration statement (Form S-1/A), September 2020, Palantir Technologies, Sep 2020. Primary record
    Mr. Thiel is one of our co-founders and has served as the Chairman of our Board of Directors since 2003.
  8. Facebook, Inc. registration statement (Form S-1), February 2012, Meta Platforms, 1 Feb 2012. Primary record
    Since 2005, Mr. Thiel has been a Partner of Founders Fund, a venture capital firm.
  9. Scale AI and its 22-year-old CEO lock down $100 million to label Silicon Valley's data, TechCrunch, 5 Aug 2019. Scholarship & press
    Scale AI will last over time because it provides core infrastructure to the most important players in the space,” Founders Fund partner and former Trump advisor Peter Thiel said in a statement.
    Founders Fund partner and former Trump advisor Peter Thiel said in a statement.
  10. Peter Thiel - Founders Fund, Founders Fund. Primary record
    He is a partner at Founders Fund, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has funded companies including SpaceX and Airbnb.
  11. Meta Platforms, Inc. 2022 proxy statement (Schedule 14A), Meta Platforms, Apr 2022. Primary record
    Peter will be retiring from our board when his term concludes at the Annual Meeting.
  12. Peter Thiel: Facebook IPO, CNBC, May 2012. Scholarship & press
    His $500,000 investment in 2004 represented 10.2 percent of the company at the time.
  13. Quora Raises $50M At $400M From Peter Thiel, D'Angelo Puts In $20M Of His Own Money, TechCrunch, 14 May 2012. Scholarship & press
    it looks like Facebook board member Peter Thiel has beat out many other investors including a much-rumored KPCB to lead the round.
    Thiel is leading personally and not through Founders Fund, breaking up the remaining $30 million between Matrix and Northbridge.
    Q&A site Quora has raised $50 million at a $400 million pre-money valuation according to a report by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed to me by the founders themselves.
  14. Introducing OpenAI, OpenAI, 11 Dec 2015. Primary record
    Sam, Greg, Elon, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Infosys, and YC Research are donating to support OpenAI. In total, these funders have committed $1 billion, although we expect to only spend a tiny fraction of this in the next few years.
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