LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� Being a venture capitalist carries a lot of prestige in Silicon Valley. Those who choose which startups to fund see themselves as fostering the next big waves of technology.
So when some of the industry鈥檚 biggest names endorsed former President Donald Trump and the onetime VC he picked for a running mate, JD Vance, people took notice.
Then hundreds of other VCs -- some high profile, others lesser-known -- threw their weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris, drawing battle lines over which presidential candidate will be better for tech innovation and the conditions startups need to thrive. For years, many of Silicon Valley's political discussions took place behind closed doors. Now, those casual debates have gone public 鈥� on podcasts, social media and online manifestos.
Venture capitalist and Harris backer Stephen DeBerry says some of his best friends support Trump. Though centered in a part of Northern California known for liberal politics, the investors who help finance the tech industry have long been a more politically divided bunch.
鈥淲e ski together. Our families are together. We鈥檙e super tight,鈥� said DeBerry, who runs the Bronze Venture Fund. 鈥淭his is not about not being able to talk to each other. I love these guys -- they鈥檙e almost all guys. They鈥檙e dear friends. We just have a difference of perspective on policy issues.鈥�
It remains to be seen if the more than 700 venture capitalists who've voiced support for a movement called 鈥淰Cs for Kamala鈥� will match the pledges of Trump's well-heeled supporters such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. But the effort marks 鈥渢he first time I鈥檝e seen a galvanized group of folks from our industry coming together and coalescing around our shared values," DeBerry said.
鈥淭here are a lot of practical reasons for VCs to support Trump," including policies that could drive corporate profits and stock market values and favor wealthy benefactors, said David Cowan, an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners. But Cowan said he is supporting Harris as a VC with a 鈥渓ong-term investment horizon鈥� because a 鈥淭rump world reeling from rampant income inequality, raging wars and global warming is not an attractive environment鈥� for funding healthy businesses.
Several prominent VCs have voiced their support for Trump on Musk's social platform X. show some of them have donated to a new, pro-Trump super PAC called America PAC, whose donors include powerful tech industry conservatives with ties to SpaceX and Paypal and who run in Musk鈥檚 social circle. Also driving support is Trump's embrace of cryptocurrency and promise to end an enforcement crackdown on the industry.
Although some Biden policies have alienated parts of the investment sector concerned about tax policy, antitrust scrutiny or overregulation, Harris' bid for the presidency has reenergized interest from VCs who until recently sat on the sidelines. Some of that excitement is due to existing relationships with Silicon Valley that are borne out of Harris' career in the San Francisco area and her time as California's attorney general.
鈥淲e buy risk, right? And we鈥檙e trying to buy the right type of risk,鈥� Leslie Feinzaig, founder of 鈥淰Cs for Kamala鈥� said in an interview. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard for these companies that are trying to build products and scale to do so in an unpredictable institutional environment.鈥�
The schism in tech has left some firms split in their allegiances. Although venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, founders of the firm that is their namesake, endorsed Trump, one of their firm鈥檚 general partners, John O鈥橣arrell, pledged his support for Harris. O鈥橣arrell declined further comment.
Doug Leone, the former managing partner of Sequoia Capital, endorsed Trump in June, expressing concern on X 鈥渁bout the general direction of our country, the state of our broken immigration system, the ballooning deficit, and the foreign policy missteps, among other issues.鈥� But Leone鈥檚 longtime business partner at Sequoia, Michael Moritz, wrote in the Financial Times that tech leaders supporting Trump 鈥渁re making a big mistake.鈥�
Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia, posted on X that he donated $300,000 to Trump鈥檚 campaign after supporting Hilary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Federal Election Commission records show that Maguire donated $500,000 to America PAC in June; Leone donated $1 million.
鈥淭he area where I disagree with Republicans the most is on women鈥檚 rights. And I鈥檓 sure I鈥檒l disagree with some of Trump鈥檚 policies in the future,鈥� Maguire wrote. 鈥淏ut in general I think he was surprisingly prescient.鈥�
Feinzaig, managing director at venture firm Graham & Walker, said that she launched 鈥淰Cs for Kamala鈥� because she felt frustrated that 鈥渢he loudest voices鈥� were starting to 鈥渟ound like they were speaking for the entire industry.鈥�
Much of the VC discourse about elections is in response to a July podcast and manifesto in which Andreessen and Horowitz backed Trump and outlined their vision of a 鈥淟ittle Tech Agenda鈥� that they said contrasted with the policies sought by Big Tech.
They accused the U.S. government of increasing hostility toward startups and the VCs who fund them, citing Biden's on the wealthy and corporations and regulations they said could hobble emerging industries involving blockchain and artificial intelligence.
Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio who spent time in San Francisco working at Thiel's investment firm, voiced a similar perspective about 鈥渓ittle tech鈥� more than a month before he was chosen as Trump鈥檚 running mate.
鈥淭he donors who were really involved in Silicon Valley in a pro-Trump way, they鈥檙e not big tech, right? They鈥檙e little tech. They鈥檙e starting innovative companies. They don鈥檛 want the government to destroy their ability to innovate," Vance said in an interview on Fox News in June.
Days earlier, Vance had joined Trump at a San Francisco fundraiser at the home of venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, a longtime conservative. Vance said Trump spoke to about 100 attendees that included 鈥渟ome of the leading innovators in AI.鈥�
DeBerry said he doesn鈥檛 disagree with everything Andreesen Horowitz founders espouse, particularly their wariness about powerful companies controlling the agencies that regulate them. But he objects to their 鈥渓ittle tech鈥� framing, especially coming from a multibillion-dollar investment firm that he says is hardly the voice of the little guy. For DeBerry, whose firm focuses on social impact, the choice is not between big and little tech but 鈥渃haos and stability," with Harris representing stability.
Complicating the allegiances is that a tough approach to breaking up the monopoly power of big corporations no longer falls along partisan lines. Vance has spoken favorably of Lina Khan, who Biden picked to lead the Federal Trade Commission and has taken on several tech giants. Meanwhile, some of the most influential VCs backing Harris -- such as LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman; and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, an early investor in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI -- have sharply criticized Khan鈥檚 approach.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat whose California district encompasses part of Silicon Valley, said Trump supporters are a vocal minority reflecting a 鈥渢hird or less鈥� of the region鈥檚 tech community. But while the White House has appealed to tech entrepreneurs with its investments in clean energy, electric vehicles and semiconductors, Khanna said Democrats must do a better job of showing that they understand the appeal of digital assets.
鈥淚 do think that the perceived lack of embrace of Bitcoin and the blockchain has hurt the Democratic Party among the young generation and among young entrepreneurs,鈥� Khanna said.
Naseem Sayani, a general partner at Emmeline Ventures, said Andreessen and Horowitz's support of Trump became a lightning rod for those in tech who do not back the Republican nominee. Sayani signed onto "VCs for Kamala," she said, because she wanted the types of businesses that she helps fund to know that the investor community is not monolithic.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not single-profile founders anymore,鈥� she said. "There鈥檚 women, there鈥檚 people of color, there鈥檚 all the intersections. How can they feel comfortable building businesses when the environment they鈥檙e in doesn鈥檛 actually support their existence in some ways?鈥�
Sarah Parvini And Matt O'brien, The Associated Press
