# Trae Stephens

> Trae Stephens is a co-founder and Executive Chairman of Anduril Industries, the defense-tech startup that hit $1 billion in revenue in 2024 and reached a $30.5 billion valuation in its 2025 Series G. A partner at Peter Thiel's Founders Fund since 2014, Stephens has spent his career at the intersection of national security and Silicon Valley - from Arabic computational linguistics in the US intelligence community, to early days at Palantir, to co-founding Anduril with Palmer Luckey in 2017. A devout Christian from Lebanon, Ohio, he frames building autonomous weapons as a moral imperative and became a billionaire in June 2025.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & Executive Chairman at Anduril Industries; Partner at Founders Fund
- **Organizations:** Anduril Industries, Founders Fund, Varda Space Industries, Valinor Enterprises, Sol
- **From:** Lebanon, Ohio, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Regional and Comparative Studies (Middle East), focus on Arabic and Security Studies, Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service
- **Known for:** Co-founded Anduril Industries, which reached $1 billion in revenue in 2024 and a $30.5 billion valuation in 2025, Became a billionaire in June 2025 following Anduril's Series G funding round, Led Department of Defense transition for President-elect Trump in late 2016

## Career timeline

- **2001** — September 11 attacks inspire Stephens (then a high school senior in Lebanon, Ohio) to pursue a career in national security
- **2005** — Graduates from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service
- **2005-2008** — Works as computational linguist building Arabic/Persian name-matching solutions for the US Intelligence Community; also serves in Congressman Rob Portman's office and at the Afghan Embassy in Washington D.C.
- **2008** — Joins Palantir Technologies as an early employee, leading intelligence/defense growth and international expansion
- **2014** — Becomes a Partner at Founders Fund, focusing on government and defense technology investments; meets Palmer Luckey at a Founders Fund retreat
- **2016** — Leads Department of Defense transition efforts on President-elect Trump's transition team
- **2017** — Co-founds Anduril Industries with Palmer Luckey, Brian Schimpf, Matt Grimm, and Joe Chen
- **2020** — Co-founds Varda Space Industries with Delian Asparouhov and Will Bruey for space manufacturing
- **2021** — Co-founds Sol, a next-generation wearable e-reader device company
- **2023** — Anduril reaches $420 million in annual revenue
- **2024** — Anduril doubles revenue to $1 billion; wins $642M Navy counter-drone contract and takes over Microsoft's $22B Army AR headset program; preaches to tech entrepreneurs on faith and innovation; co-founds Valinor Enterprises defense-tech incubator
- **2025-06** — Anduril closes $2.5B Series G led by Founders Fund ($1B check), valuing company at $30.5B; Stephens becomes a billionaire

## Achievements

- Co-founded Anduril Industries, which reached $1 billion in revenue in 2024 and a $30.5 billion valuation in 2025
- Became a billionaire in June 2025 following Anduril's Series G funding round
- Led Department of Defense transition for President-elect Trump in late 2016
- Built Anduril from zero to winning a 10-year, $642 million US Navy contract for counter-drone systems
- Managed Anduril's takeover of Microsoft's troubled $22 billion augmented reality Army headset program
- Partner at Founders Fund since 2014, pioneering defense tech as a legitimate venture capital asset class
- Co-founded Varda Space Industries for space-based pharmaceutical and material manufacturing
- Co-founded Valinor Enterprises, launching 10 product companies in its first year
- Served as adjunct faculty at Georgetown University
- Commissioner on Atlantic Council Commission on Software-Defined Warfare
- Member of the Defense Innovation Board federal advisory committee

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — Anduril closes $2.5 billion Series G at $30.5 billion valuation; Stephens becomes a billionaire, owning more than 3% of the company
- **2025-10** — Appears on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast (episode #245) discussing Anduril's AI superweapons including the Eagle Eye helmet and autonomous systems
- **2025-07** — Posts on X about the four tier-1 US cities for aspirational talent and venture capital advice for founders
- **2024-06** — Preaches to Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs on Christian faith and the ethics of building autonomous weapons
- **2024-01** — Co-founds Valinor Enterprises defense-tech incubator, launching 10 product companies in year one

## Links

- Website: https://foundersfund.com/team/trae-stephens/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trae-stephens-485a811/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/traestephens

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/trae-stephens
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-06