Share This Article
Peter Thiel continues to invest in the venture capital sector despite challenges
Businessman Peter Thiel invested $250 million in the venture capital fund Tacora Capital, which was a major investment for him. Thiel is first of all known as the cofounder of the PayPal payment system; in addition, he was the first investor in a new project, the social network Facebook. Now he’s engaged in the venture business, as well as trying his hand at politics.
2022 was a very uneasy and not very successful year for Peter, first of all, because of his active participation in the US Senate elections which required serious efforts and big money. He also obtained citizenship in Malta by investing in the local economy. In addition, Thiel invested in a number of technology start-ups and venture capital funds. Among them was Tacora Capital, which was founded by Keri Findley, who had previously been a partner at Third Point.
In addition to $250 million from Thiel, the fund also received about $100 million from other investors. The fund has already signed an agreement to fund 4 startups, and it plans to expand its interests to a number of companies that operate in the real estate and financial technology markets. Those sectors are characterized by stability and predictability of cash flows and assets, due to which Tacora will be able to protect itself from risks. At the same time, experts note the decline in the venture capital sector.
Peter Thiel, together with Max Levchin, created an online payment system in 1998, and he served as CEO until it was sold in 2002. He then organized the hedge fund Clarium, which specialized in macro-strategy. The fund was closed in 2011. During the same period, he and his partner founded a number of other funds and became the first investor in Facebook. In 2004, Thiel acquired just over 10% of the company for a total of $500 million. From that time until February 2022, the businessman was on the board of directors, first for Facebook and, after the rebranding, for Meta.
Peter Thiel has been involved in political races since 2016. Since 2016 he has openly supported Donald Trump, which caused a storm of criticism from his colleagues in Silicon Valley. However, even in the midterm elections last year, the businessman supported the candidacy of the former president and his party. Thiel plans to focus on his political career while managing venture capital funds will serve as a guarantee of permanent income.