PayPal co-founder-turned-venture capitalist revealed as buyer of Miami Beach home
It’s not Elon Musk — but a PayPal co-founder has landed in Miami-Dade.
Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist best known for starting the online payments platform with Musk — newly crowned as world’s richest human — has purchased the property at 441 to 445 E. Rivo Alto Drive in Miami Beach’s Venetian Islands.
Business Insider was first to report the sale, which occurred in September, though the buyer was not then known. The property — a 9-bed, 11-bath double-home comprising 10,041 square feet — was previously owned by former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser. It was also once used as the setting for MTV’s “The Real World.” It was listed at $19.9 million and purchased for $18 million.
Thiel could not immediately be reached for comment. Dora Puig of Luxe Living Realty, who represented the property, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Thiel now serves as general partner at Founders Fund, a well-known venture capital firm that has invested in Airbnb, SpaceX and Palantir, a data software firm co-founded and chaired by Thiel.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez confirmed he met with Thiel earlier this month; the two spoke about Miami’s potential as a tech hub, and the advantages Florida held over California when it came to taxation and regulation.
“We talked about how these governments are shooing away creative people in their communities, and how the Miami ethos is based on a community of immigrants, many of whom were fleeing Communist systems,” Suarez said in an interview Friday. “We talked about the proper role government should have in our society and our lives.”
Suarez said they did not discuss details about what business impact Thiel and Founders Fund would have.
In an email, a representative for Founders Fund, Erin Gleason, declined to comment directly on Thiel’s purchase, but confirmed Founders Fund had already opened an office in downtown Miami; it was not immediately clear where. Fellow Founders Fund partner Keith Rabois purchased a nearby home in December for a record $29 million and has permanently relocated to Miami.
“Several other team members are considering relocating and those remaining in the Bay Area plan to visit regularly,” Gleason wrote. “I can say Founders Fund is very excited about the growing tech scene in Miami.”
In an interview earlier this month with the Miami Herald, Rabois laid out his tech vision for Miami.
“We were looking for a place where there’s not constellation of tech companies that have already been proven,” he said. “We’re trying to see if we can start from scratch a new, successful tech ecosystem, or accelerate or amplify the one that’s already existed. We were trying to see where it’s possible if not probable to do that.
Local talent, he said, remains an obstacle.
“But then you ask what is possible as far as moving people — what’s there for ambitious people, allows you to convince people to come. And for Miami, it’s extremely easy to convince people to move here and create some momentum. The desirability to be here is obvious from any perspective.”
The Knight Foundation recently invested $665 million to help match local talent with incoming tech opportunities.
Miami Herald staff writer Rebecca San Juan contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 10:49 AM.
