Founders Fund raises $1 billion for fifth fund

The firm has now raised over $2 billion total

Founders Fund has a brand new fund to play with, it's biggest yet.

The venture capital firm revealed on Wednesday night that it closed a $1 billion fund, the firm's fifth. It will be called Founders Fund V.

The funding will be led by partners Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, Brian Singerman, Peter Thiel, Lauren Gross, Geoff Lewis, and Scott Nolan.

Like its other funds, Fund V will be used to invest in sectors that include aerospace, artificial intelligence, advanced computing, energy, health, and consumer Internet.

The firm previously raised its first fund of $50 million in 2005 from select individuals, and then raised another $220 million in December 2007 that included undisclosed institutional investors.

In May 2010 it landed its third fund, worth $107 million, and then another $625 million for its fourth fund in December 2011. Founders Fund has now raised over $2 billion since its founding in 2005.

Founders Fund is well-known as one of the first investors in Facebook, Spotify, and many other high-profile companies, including Airbnb, Lyft, and Spotify. and .

Some of its more recent investments include leading an $80 million Series C round for online payments company Stripe; participation in a $14 million round for Oyster, which offers a monthly subcription service for e-books; leading a $30 million round for Oscar, a health insurer that makes it easier to connect with health care providers; participation in a $15.2 million round for Misfit Wearables, creator of activity tracker called the Shine; participation in a $52 million Series B round for space and analytics company Planet Labs; and participation in a $51 million round for Knewton, an adaptive learning company.

“We have a clear vision of what the world should look like decades from now, and we seek out entrepreneurs that can partner with us to build toward that future,” Luke Nosek, Founder and Partner at Founders Fund, said in a statement.

“We want to find companies across all sectors and stages that are passionate about developing technologies to address the world’s most critical problems.”

Other 2014 funds

2014 may be young, but it has already seen a number of funding announcements.

In January, Earlybird Venture Capital announced the closing of its newest early-stage fund. It's called Earlybird's Digital East Fund, which for the first time in its 17-year history will be targeting Turkey and Central and Eastern Europe. 

The fund is some $110 million, with a target of $130 million. More than half of the funds will be used for follow-on capital.

The same month VC firm ff Venture Capital raised $52 million for two funds, ff Rose and its sister fund ff Rose Innovate, while early-stage venture capital firm Brooklyn Bridge Ventures raised $8.3 million for its second fund.  

In February, VC firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson closed its early-stage-focused Fund XI on $325 million from a mix of existing and new investors into the fund, including the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System.

Also, Georgian Partners, a Toronto-based VC firm, completed a first close of $100 million for its second fund.

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