Thiel Fellowship

The Thiel Fellowship, run by the Thiel Foundation, is Peter Thiel's "20 under 20" program launched in 2011. Fellows under 22 receive $200,000 over two years, along with guidance and resources, to skip or drop out of college and build a company, nonprofit, or research project. Unlike a venture capital fund, the fellowship takes no equity. Approximately 270 fellows have graduated across 14 cohorts, collectively building more than a dozen unicorn companies including Figma, Ethereum, Luminar, Scale AI, OYO, Anthropic, Cognition, Mercor, and The Ocean Cleanup.