Founders Fund
Founders Fund is the San Francisco venture-capital firm Peter Thiel co-founded in 2005, a generalist backing hard technology across every sector. In water it is an occasional player: its one water-related bet is Solugen, the green-chemistry maker it funded across two early rounds through 2019. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Founders Fund's story is not a water story. Peter Thiel, Ken Howery and Luke Nosek started it in 2005 fresh out of PayPal, and it became the firm that wrote some of the earliest cheques into SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril, Facebook and Stripe. Its whole posture is generalist and contrarian, backing smart people solving difficult problems across all stages, sectors and geographies, wherever the hard engineering is. Founders Fund is a hard-technology generalist, and water surfaces only when a water company happens to be the hardest-tech bet in the room.
Founders Fund's single water bet is Solugen. Founded in Houston around 2016, Solugen runs what it calls the Bioforge, pairing engineered enzymes with metal catalysts to turn plant sugar into industrial chemicals, beginning with a bio-based hydrogen peroxide it sold into water treatment and oilfield work as a safer oxidant. Founders Fund backed Solugen across two early rounds and took the board seat through Brian Singerman, then a general partner and now partner emeritus at the firm. Solugen is the one place where Founders Fund's chemistry-meets-software instinct lands squarely in water.
Founders Fund the institution keeps getting bigger, closing a $4.6 billion growth fund in April 2025 on top of roughly $17 billion under management, yet almost none of that points at water. Solugen remains its lone water-adjacent name, last funded years ago, and (don't) Waste Water rates the firm an Occasional water investor for exactly that reason: genuine conviction in a single company, with no sign of a second. For a newcomer scanning water VCs, Founders Fund is a useful reminder that a famous venture logo is not the same thing as a water thesis.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Founders Fund invest in?
- Founders Fund is a generalist venture-capital firm that backs hard-technology companies across every sector and stage, from defense and space to software and chemistry. Its best-known holdings include SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril and Stripe. In water its footprint is a single company, the green-chemistry maker Solugen.
- Is Founders Fund a water investor?
- Founders Fund has backed only one water-related company, Solugen, so it is best described as an occasional water investor rather than a specialist. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional, reflecting real conviction in that one name rather than a standing water thesis or a steady deal pace.
- Who runs Founders Fund?
- Founders Fund was co-founded in 2005 by Peter Thiel, Ken Howery and Luke Nosek, and Thiel remains its managing partner. Today's investment team includes partners Scott Nolan, Trae Stephens, Delian Asparouhov and John Luttig. The firm is based at the Presidio in San Francisco.
- What water company has Founders Fund backed?
- Founders Fund's one water-related investment is Solugen, a Houston green-chemistry company. Solugen uses engineered enzymes and metal catalysts to make industrial chemicals, starting with a bio-based hydrogen peroxide sold for water treatment. Founders Fund backed it across two early rounds through 2019.
- Is Founders Fund the same as Female Founders Fund?
- No. This Founders Fund is Peter Thiel's San Francisco firm. Female Founders Fund, Italian Founders Fund and Young Founders Fund are separate, unrelated organizations that share the generic name. This profile covers only the Thiel-co-founded Founders Fund and its water investing.