Trump secures donations from two Silicon Valley venture capital billionaires

Billionaire venture capital investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz are reportedly set to announce their plans to make donations in support of former President Trump’s presidential campaign.

Axios reported Tuesday that the two founders of VC firm Andreessen Horowitz are expected to outline the reasoning behind their plan to financially back Trump’s White House bid in a podcast later on Tuesday afternoon. The Information had previously reported on the duo’s donation plans.

The two investors aren’t believed to have made prior donations to political campaigns, although Axios noted that Andreessen publicly supported Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012 and said he struggled to choose in 2016 between Trump and Hillary Clinton – saying the former “doesn’t believe in science” while the latter “doesn’t believe in economics.”

The donations in support of the Trump campaign are believed to be linked to a previously announced plan to back political candidates that favor regulatory policies that enable the growth of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency, Axios reported, citing a source. 

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Last year, Andreessen Horowitz announced its intent to make political donations to candidates that support “an optimistic technology-enabled future” while opposing candidates who “want to choke off important technologies.”

In a blog post authored by Horowitz in December, he explained that the firm believes “America’s best days are ahead if we retain our global technology leadership” but that could be undermined by “misguided regulatory policy.”

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Marc Andreessen is one of the founding partners of VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. (Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via / Getty Images)

“Artificial intelligence has the potential to uplift all of humanity to an unprecedented quality of living and must not be choked off in its infancy,” he wrote.

“Decentralized technologies from the blockchain/crypto/web3 ecosystem will create a fairer, more inclusive economy than the centralized, monopoly-enabling technologies of web 2 and the industrial-era financial system,” Horowitz wrote, adding that clear regulation is needed to eliminate bad actors exploiting that technology space.

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Ben Horowitz, left, is one of the co-founders of Andreessen Horowitz. (Phillip Faraone/for Wired / Getty Images)

He also said that the U.S. is “entering the golden era of biological research” with AI “maturing at a time when life sciences and health care are also transforming into data-driven disciplines, with both industries increasingly driven by AI and engineering, with its power and opportunity to fundamentally change how we diagnose, treat, and manage disease and deliver health.”

“Every penny we donate will go to support like-minded candidates and oppose candidates who aim to kill America’s advanced technological future,” he concluded.

Former President Trump tapped Sen. JD Vance as his running mate on Monday. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via / Getty Images)

Tuesday’s announcement by the VC investors comes a day after former President Trump selected Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his vice presidential nominee and running mate.

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Andreessen provided funding for Vance’s venture capital firm, Narya Capital, that Vance founded in 2019. Other investors included PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.