In 2021, prominent venture capital investor and podcast host David Sachs said former President Donald J. Trump's actions surrounding the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol disqualify him from being a future political candidate.
Speaking at a technology conference last week, Sachs said his view had changed.
“I have a bigger disagreement with Biden than with Trump,” the investor said. Sachs said he and his podcast co-hosts are working on a fundraiser for Trump, which could include an interview on his “All In” show. He also extended an invitation to President Biden, but the Trump campaign was reportedly more willing.
Such public support for Trump was taboo in Silicon Valley, long considered a liberal stronghold, but dissatisfaction with Biden, the Democratic Party and the state of the world is pushing some of the tech industry's most prominent venture capitalists further to the right.
Some investors, like Social Capital's Chamath Palihapitiya, have supported Democrats in the past (and will co-host a Trump fundraiser with Sachs), others, like Andreessen Horowitz's Marc Andreessen and Sequoia Capital's Sean Maguire, have criticized Biden without endorsing Trump, and still others, like Khosla Ventures' Keith Rabois, are focused on getting Republicans elected.
The activity could make more noise than formal support or personal donations to Trump's campaign. And it's by no means all of them. Many in Silicon Valley remain loyal to the Democratic Party, including prominent donors like investors Reid Hoffman and Vinod Khosla. Investor Peter Thiel, who has backed Trump in the past, said he is disillusioned with politics and won't be taking part in the 2024 race.
But right-leaning tech investors have influence, huge social media followings and lots of cash. And they're becoming more interested in politics. That reflects the growth of the startup industry, which is set to grow eightfold between 2012 and 2022 to $344 billion, according to startup-tracking firm PitchBook, and industry issues are increasingly becoming political.
“When I started, everyone was worried about taxes and immigration,” said Bobby Franklin, who has led the industry group National Venture Capital Association since 2013. “It's a lot more complicated now.”
Derian Asparoukhov, an investor at Founders Fund, an investment company founded by Mr. Thiel, recently said: surprised I realized how much the political climate has changed. Earlier this month, Trump attended a venture capital conference in Washington virtually. There he thanked those in attendance for “remaining positive” and said he looked forward to meeting with them.
“I would have had to apologize if I voted for him four years ago,” Asparoukhov wrote on X.
Sachs, Palihapitiya and Founders Fund did not respond to requests for comment. Sequoia Capital declined to comment.
The tech investor group's statements and activities are especially striking given Silicon Valley's blue backdrop. Republican donor circles in America's tech capital have long been limited to a handful of tech executives, including Sun Microsystems founder Scott McNealy, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Oracle board chairman Larry Ellison, and former Sequoia Capital managing partner Doug Leone.
But primarily, the technology industry fostered close ties to the Democratic Party. Former Democratic Vice President Al Gore joined venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in 2007. Over the next decade, tech companies like Airbnb, Google, Uber, and Apple eagerly hired former members of the Obama administration.
It was shocking that Thiel enthusiastically supported Trump in 2016, donating $1.25 million and giving a speech at the Republican National Convention. What was even more surprising to some industry insiders was that after Mr. Trump won that year's election, the world seemed to blame his victory on tech companies. The result was a “tech rush” against Facebook and others, causing some industry leaders to reconsider their political views. This trend continued through the social and political turmoil caused by the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has moved further left, demonizing the most successful and wealthy people and further alienating some tech leaders, said Bradley Task, a Democratic venture capital investor and political strategist.
“If you keep telling someone that they're evil over and over again, eventually they're going to stop liking it,” he says. “We see that in venture capital as well.”
That sentiment has intensified under President Biden. Some investors are concerned that Lina Khan, Biden's pick to head the Federal Trade Commission, has actively tried to block acquisitions, one of venture capitalists' main ways to make money. Some people complain. They also complained that Gary Gensler, Biden's nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, was hostile to crypto companies.
The startup industry has also been in a recession since 2022, with rising interest rates forcing capital away from risky bets and a disastrous initial public offering market narrowing opportunities for investors to cash out their precious investments.
Biden also proposed in March a 25% “billionaire tax” on certain holdings, which could include stocks in startups, and higher taxes on profits from successful investments. Some people disliked the tax increase.
Sachs said at a tech conference last week that such a tax could destroy the startup industry's system of providing stock options to founders and employees. “It's a good reason for Silicon Valley to think seriously about who it votes for,” he said.
Some tech investors are also upset about how Biden has handled foreign affairs and other issues.
“It's impossible to support Biden,” said Khosla Ventures' Rabois, adding that he is also not a fan of Trump. “I’m focused on electing a Republican Congress and Senate.”
Sequoia Capital's Maguire I wrote to X “Biden has avoided double standards throughout his career,” he said in May. “We'll see how it goes this time.”
“There are real problems with a Biden administration,” Andreessen, founder of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said in a recent podcast. He said the SEC and FTC would be led by “very different kinds of people” under Trump. But a Trump presidency wouldn't necessarily be a “total victory,” he added.
Last month, Sachs, Thiel, Elon Musk and other high-profile investors attended an “anti-Biden” dinner in Hollywood where attendees discussed fundraising and ways to take on Democrats, according to people familiar with the matter and first reported by Pack.
This shift in attitude reflects a general public dissatisfaction with both parties, said Franklin, of the National Venture Capital Association. “Technology, venture capital and Silicon Valley are looking at the current situation and saying, 'We're not happy with either option,'” he said. “'We can no longer expect Democrats to support technology issues, and we can no longer expect Republicans to support business issues.'”
Andreessen Horowitz founder Ben Horowitz wrote in a blog post last year that the firm supports politicians who support a “tech-enabled optimistic future” and opposes those who don't. Horowitz and Andreessen each donated more than $11 million to political campaigns last year, most of which went to FairShake, a political action group focused on supporting crypto-friendly lawmakers.
in November, a group of prominent investors and startup founders signed an open letter to Biden criticizing his executive order aimed at creating safeguards around the development of artificial intelligence. They accused him of stifling innovation.
Venture investors are also networking with Washington lawmakers at events such as the Hill & Valley Conference in March, hosted by Jacob Helberg, an adviser to Palantir, a tech company co-founded by Thiel. At the event, technology company executives and investors lobbied lawmakers against AI regulations and called for more government spending to support technology development in the United States.
This month, Mr. LaBois' wife, Mr. Helberg, donated $1 million to the Trump campaign. The donation was first reported by The Washington Post.