When Palmer Luckey parted ways with Facebook, which bought his virtual-reality start-up, Oculus, in 2014 for $3 billion, it wasnt clear what the 24-year-old founder might do next. Last fall, Luckey became something of a pariah in Silicon Valley after a Daily Beast investigation revealed that he had donated $10,000 to Nimble America, a political group that made anti-Hillary Clinton memesan exilable offense in arch-liberal Silicon Valley. He later issued an apology, writing on Facebook, I am deeply sorry that my actions are negatively impacting the perception of Oculus and its partners, and spent the following months maintaining a low profile away from the press
Now, Luckey is leaning into the politics that made him a liability at Facebook. According to The New York Times, Luckey is working on a new surveillance start-up that would use a combination of camera and sensor technology to monitor border crossings, similar to some Republican plans for a virtual wall between the United States and Mexico. The same technology currently being used by self-driving cars, Luckey believes, could also be deployed at stadiums, to detect drones, and to protect military basesall at a lower cost than current systems. We are spending more than ever on defense technology, yet the pace of innovation has been slowing for decades, Luckey said in a statement to the Times, confirming that he has been working on a defense start-up. We need a new kind of defense company, one that will save taxpayer dollars while creating superior technology to keep our troops and citizens safer.
Luckeys libertarian worldviewand idiosyncratic interestsmake for an unusual sort of comeback story. After leaving Oculus, Luckey appeared to grow more comfortable with the politics that had allegedly gotten him pushed out. He contributed $100,000 to Donald Trumps inauguration and recently held a fundraiser for Ted Cruz. He has also been talking to Trump adviser Peter Thiel, whose investment firm Founders Fund plans to partner with his new venture, and has begun opening up about his views on social media. Some people want founders to keep their politics private and away from their business, others think they should do everything out in the open in a vocal way, he said on Reddit last month, responding to a story about Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. You cant make everyone happy. Luckey has also not been shy about using his fortuneestimated in the hundreds of millions of dollarsto assemble his own fleet of military vehicles, including three helicopters. Other assets reportedly include two homes built atop decommissioned missile silos. (Luckey is said to be a doomsday prepper.)
While Luckeys political alignment with Trump has closed some doors in Silicon Valley, it has opened other opportunities in Washington, where most tech leaders remain hesitant to work with the new administration. According to the Times, Luckey met with Trumps chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, to discuss his sensor technology, and recently had a meeting with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, whose spokeswoman said he referred Luckey to the Department of Homeland Security.
