Founder Profile
Trae Stephens
Last reviewed: September 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Trae Stephens?
Trae Stephens is a founder of Anduril Industries, Inc., which was founded in 2017 with Palmer Luckey, Brian Schimpf, Matt Grimm and Joe Chen.
- Company founded
- Anduril Industries, Inc.
- Founded
- 2017
- Co-founders
- Palmer Luckey, Brian Schimpf, Matt Grimm and Joe Chen
Background
Trae Stephens graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, worked in the intelligence community and was an early Palantir employee running deployments and international growth. He became a partner at Founders Fund, where he invested in defense and industrial companies before helping start one.
Founding Story
Trae Stephens is a co-founder and executive chairman of Anduril Industries and a partner at Founders Fund. He and Palmer Luckey started the company in 2017 on the view that the defense industrial base rewarded slow cost-plus programs over fast iteration. Stephens handles strategy, Washington relationships and capital formation: Founders Fund led Anduril's early rounds and later the $2.5 billion round of June 2025 that valued the company at $30.5 billion. He announced that round publicly on behalf of the company.
Trae Stephens was born in 1983. Education: Walsh School of Foreign Service.