Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at the Georgia State Convening Center on July 30, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Elijah Novel | AFP | beautiful images
Afterward Donald TrumpRepublican presidential candidate, has received strong support from slice In the world of tech investing, a large group of venture capitalists have banded together to back the opposition.
Over 100 VC on Wednesday has pledged to support for Vice President Kamala Harrispotential Democratic candidate, as she steps up her campaign to take on Trump in November’s election.
The group, which calls itself VCs for Kamala, is made up of investors and entrepreneurs from a variety of established and growing funds and demographics. It includes Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, along with Cowboy Ventures founder Aileen Lee and Union Square Ventures partner Rebecca Kaden.
“We spend our time finding, investing in, and supporting entrepreneurs who are building the future,” the group said in its pledge. “We are pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-technological progress. We also believe that democracy is the backbone of our nation. We believe that strong, trustworthy institutions are a feature, not a bug, and that our industry — and every industry — would collapse without them.”
The VCs for Kamala list highlights the deepening political divide in Silicon Valley and the tech industry at large. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has spoken out in support of Trump, publicly support him minutes after the assassination earlier this month, while VCs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz recently said They support Trump, arguing that his policies would be better for “small tech people.”
Musk is also reportedly planning to contribute millions of dollars to a pro-Trump PAC called America PAC, along with Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital and Joe Lonsdale of 8VC. Musk’s close friend and former PayPal colleague David Sacks, co-founder of Craft Ventures, is also a strong Trump supporter and spoke at the Republican National Convention earlier this month.
Hoffman, a longtime Democratic donor and partner at venture capital firm Greylock, shared a link to a pro-Harris website commitment on Xsocial networking site owned by Musk.
“Proud to sign the #vcsforkamala pledge,” Hoffman wrote. “This is an investment in the future of our democracy.”
Erika Lucas, General Partner at VEST Her Ventures, wrote on Linkedin that there were “a lot of women, especially Black VC women”, behind the pledge, adding “I am proud to serve and organize with them as well as our male colleagues. We understand this mission”.
The Democratic National Convention scheduled to take place on August 19 in Chicago.
