Fundraising Fox

Trae Stephens

Investor

Partner at Founders Fund

San Francisco, CA

Writes $500K – $150M checks · typically $5M

FoundedPursuit · YC

Midas 2026 · #7Midas 2025 · #19Midas 2024 · #91

About

Trae Stephens is a partner at Founders Fund and a co-founder and chairman of defense technology company Anduril, whose rise to a $61 billion valuation propelled him to number 7 on the 2026 Forbes Midas List. A former Palantir engineer, he focuses on national security and government-facing startups and has become one of the leading voices for Silicon Valley's return to defense work.

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningBiotechDefense TechFintechSpace Tech

Experience

  1. Founders FundPartnercurrent2014 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
  2. Anduril IndustriesCo-Foundercurrent2017 — presentOrange County, California, United States
  3. PursuitCo-Foundercurrent2021 — present
  4. SolCo-Foundercurrent2021 — present
  5. Georgetown UniversityAdjunct Professor2013Washington DC-Baltimore Area
  6. Palantir TechnologiesForward Deployed Engineer2008 — 2013Washington DC-Baltimore Area
  7. LexisNexis Special ServicesLead Data Analyst, International Data2006 — 2008
  8. Georgetown UniversityAsst. to the Chief of Staff2005 — 2006
  9. Embassy of AfghanistanPolitical Affairs Intern2003 — 2005Washington DC-Baltimore Area
  10. Office of Congressman Rob PortmanCongressional Intern2005

Education

  1. Georgetown UniversityBS, Regional and Comparative Studies (Middle East)2002 — 2005
  2. Lebanon High School1998 — 2002

Skills & more

Government63Policy21Program Management55DoD10Data Analysis20Intelligence Analysis6Research13Requirements Analysis11National Security13System Administration1Cloud Computing8Enterprise Architecture3
+10 moreIntegrationDefenseProposal WritingSoftware EngineeringSoftware DevelopmentSystems EngineeringAnalysisSecurity ClearanceDatabasesSQL

From Trae's professional profile.

Same school

Shared employers

Deals · 4

FlexportBoard seat

via Founders Fund · filed Feb 2022 · $935.4M raise

press ↗

Varda Space Industries, Inc.Board seat

via Founders Fund · filed Sep 2021 · $42.2M raise

Eight SleepBoard seat

via Founders Fund · filed Jul 2021 · $87.6M raise

Gecko RoboticsQuoted

via Founders Fund · filed May 2025

press ↗

Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Trae Stephens

Anduril & Founders Fund’s Trae Stephens on Choosing Good Quests in the Age of AI | Ep. 35

Uncapped with Jack Altman

Trae Stephens on Founders Fund

Turpentine VC

Trae Stephens (Founders Fund & Anduril Industries) - What Happened to the Future?

Techsylvania

The future of defense funding with Founders Fund’s Trae Stephens | StrictlyVC LA

TechCrunch

Colleagues at Founders Fund

Network1

Investors connected to Trae in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons ↗