Former members of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have launched a startup to bring "DOGE for the private sector," according to WIRED. The holding company, called Special, has backing from billionaire Marc Andreessen's venture capital firm a16z and several other former DOGE members.
The Startup: Special
In a post on a16z's Substack, Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox, who led DOGE's efforts at several government agencies, write that their startup will build "an operating system to transform critical American industries with AI." They claim that "Main Street," like the federal government, is inefficient. The plan, per Fox and Cavanaugh, is to "vertically integrate," buying up businesses in critical sectors and running them using Special's operating system.
First Vertical: FigureHealth in Senior Care
Their first target is senior care, with a vertical called FigureHealth. In an interview on TBPN, Cavanaugh said that Special is also looking at "markets like construction, manufacturing, other very labor intensive, highly regulated markets that a lot of the learnings we had from DOGE can then get applied back into the private sector." Their work also purports to target waste, citing recent Republican talking points about blue states and fraud. "One needs to look no further than childcare learning centers in Minnesota or hospice businesses in California to find immense waste at the state level from businesses that benefit from taxpayer dollars," Fox and Cavanaugh write.
Funding and Investors
Andreessen Horowitz is leading the funding round, according to WIRED. The investors include several DOGE associates and other notable figures:
| Investor | Role / Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Steve Davis | Elon Musk's right-hand man, coordinator of DOGE operations |
| Antonio Gracias | Founder of Valor Equity Partners, involved with DOGE at SSA |
| Baris Akis | Turkish national, informal recruiter for DOGE |
| Anthony Armstrong | Former CFO at Musk's xAI |
| Donald Park | Part of DOGE at Small Business Administration |
| Adam Ramada and Brooks Morgan | Founders of BANNER VC, left DOGE in August 2025 |
| Brian Armstrong | Coinbase founder |
| Shyam Sankar | CTO of Palantir |
Cavanaugh and Fox did not respond to requests for comment; neither did their apparent investors, according to WIRED.
Criticism and Context
Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, offered a critical view. "This pitch relies on DOGE-y tropes, with references to fraud in Minnesota. It's a very bro-y perspective on government and what the issues are," Moynihan said. "If you think the biggest issue in the American government is welfare fraud, then that suggests a pretty narrow perspective on the major challenges that we face right now. But that has been the perspective of DOGE, Musk, and the rest of the administration."
While part of DOGE, Cavanaugh and Fox led the forcible takeover of the Congressionally funded nonprofit the US Institute of Peace (USIP). After being installed as USIP's acting director, Cavanaugh attempted to gift its building to the government, a move currently subject to an ongoing court case, WIRED reported. Cavanaugh was also appointed acting director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness. At both institutions, Cavanaugh put nearly all staff members on administrative leave. The two were also part of the DOGE takeover of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), where whistleblower Dan Berulis claimed that DOGE misconduct occurred.
For enterprise technology buyers, this development signals a new entrant applying government efficiency tactics—and AI—to heavily regulated industries. The involvement of investors like a16z and Palantir’s CTO suggests a focus on data-intensive operations and potential integration with existing enterprise systems, though specific technical details remain limited.
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