Valar Ventures is a venture capital firm backed by Peter Thiel, founded by Andrew McCormack, James Fitzgerald and Peter Thiel. Andrew McCormack and James Fitzgerald are the managing partners of the firm. It focused on startups outside of Silicon Valley. Valar believes that an increasing number of transformative technology companies will be started outside of the Bay Area, and that these startups will benefit from working with investors who understand how to build a global business from the emerging tech hubs in Europe and North America. Valar Ventures originally spun out of Thiel Capital, Peter Thiel's global parent company based in San Francisco, and is now headquartered near Union Square in New York City. The firm's namesake is the Valar of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, who are god-like immortal spirits that chose to enter the mortal world to prepare it for their living creations.