The Thiel Fellowship, created by entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel, is a program that provides young people with the resources and support they need to turn their innovative ideas into reality. Thiel Fellows, as they are called, receive a $100,000 grant, as well as mentorship and guidance from some of the most successful entrepreneurs and innovators in the world. The program is highly competitive and attracts applicants from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines.
This article will list 16 of the many breakthrough companies founded by Thiel Fellows.
1. Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin is the founder of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency. At its peak, the market capitalization of Ethereum was over $400 billion. Buterin also implemented a merge on Ethereum which reduced global electricity consumption by 0.2%
2. Figma
Dylan Field used the $100K grant to launch the collaborative design platform. Adobe acquired it for $20B+
3. Longevity VC
Laura Deming is a Thiel Fellow and biotech entrepreneur whose goal is to eliminate age-related diseases. She began working in a biogerontology lab at the age of 12 and was awarded a Thiel Fellowship at the age of 17 to work on her venture. Today, her venture has raised over $1 billion in follow-on funding and is funding programs to expand the human lifespan.
4. Scale AI
After becoming a Thiel Fellow in 2014, Lucy Guo co-founded a company called “data platform for AI” and today it has grown to be worth $7.3 billion and generating over $150 million in revenue.
5. Loom
Shahed Khan, a Thiel Fellow, co-founded a video messaging tool that has 14 million users and is valued at $1.5 billion.
6. Luminar
Austin Russell, the founder of Luminar, dropped out of Stanford at 18 after winning the Thiel Fellowship to build the company. Luminar Technologies makes sensors for autonomous vehicles for advanced safety and autonomy. In 2020, it went public at a $3.2 billion valuation via a SPAC (Special purpose acquisition company)
7. Polkadot
Polkadot, co-founded by Robert Habermeier, enables blockchain networks to operate together and today has a market capitalization of $5 billion+
8. DoNotPay
Joshua Browder founded DoNotPay it, a company that uses AI to help generate demand letters, court filings, and other legal documents. The company was last valued at $210 million.
9. Upstart
Paul Gu founded, Upstart, an AI lending platform, which generates revenue of around $850 million. And it is valued at over $1 billion. at its peak, it was valued $30 Billion or more.
10. OYO
Ritesh Agarwal built a hospitality chain with the grant. The chain leases hotels and living spaces and generates over $600 million in revenue per year.
11. Forge
Sohail Prasad founded Forge, a company that provides data, services, and other means to help individuals buy and sell private company shares. It generated $12M+ in revenue in 2021.
12. Freenome
Riley C Ennis founded Freenome, a high-growth biotech startup developing next-generation blood tests to detect cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages.
13. The Ocean Cleanup
Boyan Slat used the $100,000 grant he received as a Thiel Fellow to drop out and found a non-profit organization that builds technologies to eliminate ocean waste. To date, the organization has removed 2 million kilograms of trash from oceans and rivers. The organization aims to clean up 90% of floating ocean plastic pollution.
14. Stord
Sean Henry founded Stord, a platform that helps businesses build, expand and optimize their physical supply chain operations with the speed, flexibility and ease of modern cloud software. Today it generates over $200 million in revenue per year and is valued at $1.3 billion or more.
15. Curative
Fred Turner founded Curative, a company that provides employer-based health insurance plans valued at $1 billion+
16. Rapid API
Iddo Gino founded Rapid API, an API platform, where users can build, use, and share thousands of APIs. The company is valued at over $1 billion.
There are many more.
Jim O’Neill, co-founder of Thiel Fellowship, has written an in-depth analysis of the success of the Thiel Fellows and their companies.
Additional Resources
Thank you for reading Grey Knight’s article on 2023 Spring Internships at Top Investment Banks. To keep learning and advancing your career, we highly recommend these additional resources:
Venture Capital: A Comprehensive Overview
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