Two former members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced in 2026 the launch of a startup aimed at applying what they describe as “learnings” from DOGE to private-sector businesses. Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox, who led DOGE operations at several federal agencies, have formed a holding company called Special, backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
In a post on a16z’s Substack, Cavanaugh and Fox describe Special as building “an operating system to transform critical American industries with AI.” Their stated strategy is to vertically integrate by acquiring businesses in targeted sectors and running them using Special’s platform. The company’s first focus area is senior care, through a vertical called FigureHealth. Cavanaugh has also indicated interest in construction, manufacturing, and other labor-intensive, highly regulated industries.
The funding round includes several former DOGE colleagues: Steve Davis, Elon Musk’s operational coordinator at DOGE; Antonio Gracias, founder of Valor Equity Partners; Baris Akis, an informal DOGE recruiter; Anthony Armstrong, former CFO at Musk’s xAI; Donald Park, from DOGE’s Small Business Administration operations; and Adam Ramada and Brooks Morgan, who founded Austin-based BANNER VC after leaving DOGE in August 2025. Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong and Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar also participated.
The founders’ pitch references fraud in Minnesota childcare centers and California hospice businesses as examples of private-sector waste linked to taxpayer dollars — language that echoes DOGE’s own justifications for cutting government contracts and shutting down agencies including USAID. Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, called the pitch “a very bro-y perspective on government,” adding that framing welfare fraud as the central problem reflects “a pretty narrow perspective on the major challenges that we face right now.”
Cavanaugh and Fox did not respond to requests for comment. While at DOGE, both were involved in the forcible takeover of the US Institute of Peace (USIP), a congressionally funded nonprofit. Cavanaugh, installed as acting director, attempted to transfer the organization’s building to the government — a move currently subject to an ongoing court case. He also served as acting director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, placing nearly all staff at both institutions on administrative leave.
Source: WIRED