Since Donald Trump Jr. joined VC firm 1789 Capital after his father won the election, he’s been busy monetizing the Make America Great Again (MAGA) ecosystem.
He’s been making bets in media, pharmaceutical, guns, and crypto while pushing against environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the Financial Times reported.
The VC firm was co-founded by Trump donor Omeed Malik (who is also a backer of Substack) and has support from Rebekah Mercer, a backer of the conservative news site Breitbart. Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, right-wing radio personality Clay Travis, and investor Marc Andreessen were also early backers of 1789, according to Bloomberg.
The 1789 team, situated less than two miles from Mar-a-Lago, is immersed in Trump world. So far, the firm led the $15 million seed round for Tucker Carlson’s new media company; has poured more than $50 million into Elon Musk’s companies xAI and SpaceX; invested in a beverage company founded by right-wing YouTubers the Nelk Boys, and backed the prediction site Polymarket, according to Bloomberg.
The firm is reportedly looking for companies to acquire, under the expectation that President Trump will relax some financial regulatory rules, a source told Bloomberg.
Overall, 1789 raised $500 million alone after Inauguration Day and is hoping to raise at least $1 billion for its first fund by the middle of this year, especially from endowments and pensions in Republican states.
Elsewhere, according to Bloomberg and the Financial Times, Trump Jr. is on the board of three publicly traded companies, including a drone manufacturer, a conservative marketplace, and a fintech. He’s on the board of BlinkRX, a 1789 portfolio company that does drug deliveries. He’s an adviser to the firearm retailer GrabAGun, which Malik said he and Trump Jr. were looking to take public this year. He’s an adviser to another prediction market company, Kalshi, and alongside his brother Eric, he is an investor in the biotech company Dominari Holdings.
He’s also, of course, the sole trustee of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social.
Many were surprised that Trump Jr. decided to go deeper into the startup and investment world after his father became president again, Bloomberg reported, but the move has since become another indication of the deepening economic and social ties between the power players in Silicon Valley and on Capitol Hill.
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