Silicon Valley: America Pac has raised over $8.7 million from backers, including Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale, founders Andreessen Horowitz, namesakes, and Sequoia founder Doug Leone, among tech industry contributors supporting Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency. Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale, a trio of venture capital pioneers, and the Winklevoss twins are among U.S. business and technology leaders who have donated to a new super-political action committee supporting Donald Trump’s presidential bid.
America Pac
According to a public document, America Pac has raised over $8.7 million since its launch in June, including several $1 million donations from Silicon Valley investors who have publicly supported Trump recently. Donors include Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire and Valor Equity Partners founder Antonio Gracias, as well as Doug Leone, co-founder of Sequoia Capital and Lonsdale of 8VC and Palantir.
A person with direct knowledge of Super Pac said Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk were planning to donate. Musk is a close business associate of many donors, including Lonsdale. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the Wall Street Journal claims that he has decided to contribute $45 million a month to support Trump, having already said publicly that he “fully supports him”.
Much at stake on the cryptocurrency front
Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz told the staff of their venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, that they would support Trump. “This is a new commitment because they believe there is a lot at stake on the cryptocurrency side, in the firm’s AI agenda …This does not mean supporting [Trump’s] views on immigration,” said a person with direct knowledge of their plans. Coal giant Joe Craft, CEO of Alliance Resource Partners, and Jimmy John Liautaud, the founder of sandwich chain Jimmy John’s, also donated $1 million each. In contrast, documents show that Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss donated $250,000 each. Silicon Valley has long been considered one of the most liberal regions in the United States. Still, some tech leaders, disenchanted with President Joe Biden’s positions on regulation and taxes, have leaned politically to the right.
Trump’s moves
Trump, in turn, has toyed with libertarian-minded entrepreneurs and venture capitalists by promising to protect free speech and support the cryptocurrency industry. Musk endorsed Trump on Saturday, shortly after the Republican candidate’s assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “The last time America had such a strong candidate was Theodore Roosevelt,” Musk wrote on X. Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman also said Saturday that he would “formally” endorse Trump. Musk also praised Trump’s “excellent” choice of Senator JD Vance, a former venture capitalist, as his running mate on Monday.
“Trump-Vance,” Musk wrote in X. “Resonates with victory.” Musk had previously endorsed Democrats, including Biden, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Vance has long-standing ties to elite tech circles, having worked for Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital venture fund in San Francisco between 2015 and 2017 and later for the Washington-based Revolution venture fund founded by AOL CEO Steve Case.
Donations
According to federal election records, Thiel donated $15 million to support Vance’s 2022 Senate race through a donation to Protect Ohio Values Pac. Jacob Helberg, a Palantir executive and major Trump donor, said Vance is “a pro-technology, pro-America first choice who will be an extraordinary advocate for President Trump’s agenda and the American people.”
Vance also launched his venture capital firm Narya Capital in 2020 with the backing of Thiel, Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen, startup investor Scott Dorsey and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. According to Securities and Exchange Commission documents, the Cincinnati, Ohio-based company, which had assets under management of about $200 million last year, aimed to channel more Silicon Valley funding to U.S. cities underserved by tech investment.
Growing support
Some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures have become increasingly active in supporting the Trump campaign. Last month, Venture capitalist David Sacks hosted a fundraiser at his San Francisco home where Vance introduced Trump and spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday.
Keith Rabois, CEO of Khosla Ventures, told the Financial Times that he will also donate $1 million to support Trump. According to the 2022 disclosures, the most recent data available, Vance held personal investments in more than 100 public and private companies, including Anduril Industries, backed by Thiel, active in the artificial intelligence defence segment, and the space simulation company Slingshot Aerospace, along with up to $100,000 worth of Walmart stock. Vance also personally invested in the controversial video platform Rumble, owning a stake worth up to $300,000 in 2022, and the Christian prayer app Hallow, in which his stake was worth up to $100,000 that year. Vance also revealed owning between $100,001 and $250,000 in bitcoin on the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange in 2022.
Election promises
Donald Trump’s election promises to protect freedom of expression and support the cryptocurrency industry gain support. The tech world has observed the extremely pro-regulatory policies of Lina Khan, the number one official at the FTC, the U.S. antitrust agency. “She is leaning toward more restrictive regulation regarding Big Tech, but the camouflage on Microsoft’s business file has caused a disruption,” said Wilfrid Galand, strategy director at Montpensier Finance.
