Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, and political activist. He is one of the founders of PayPal and has founded several venture capital firms, including Clarium Capital, Founders Fund, Valar Ventures, and Mithril Capital Management.

Thiel founded Clarium Capital in 2002, a hedge fund, with $10 million of his total earnings of $60 million from the PayPal sale. By 2008, the fund had lost a great deal of value in its assets and 90% value by 2010, though it would go on to recover. Clarium Capital has mainly invested in early-stage companies, including Zynga, FreedomPay, and Cavendish Kinetics.

Mithril Capital Management, another one of Thiel's investment firms, was founded in 2012. The firm invests in innovative global technology companies and has invested in companies like Paxos, Helion Energy, AiFi, and others.