- The Tech Buzz
- Posts
- Trump’s ex-VC, Pro-AI & Pro-crypto VP Pick
Trump’s ex-VC, Pro-AI & Pro-crypto VP Pick
What Trump's VP pick means for VC
Alpha
July 16, 2024
In partnership with
TECH IN THE NEWS
Trump-Victory Trades - Trump’s shooting boosted perceived ‘Trump-victory trades’ including gun makers, private prison operators and Bitcoin and crypto. DJT and Rumble stocks also soared. Clean energy stocks fell.
Project "Strawberry" - OpenAI is working on a project to enhance the reasoning capabilities of its AI models and enable autonomous internet research — crucial steps for achieving human-level intelligence or AGI.
OpenAI Whistleblowers File - An SEC complaint alleges OpenAI used overly restrictive non-disclosure agreements to prevent employees from reporting concerns to regulators.
Record AUM - Assets managed by BlackRock hit a record $10.65T in Q2 thanks to rising client asset values and inflows of $81.57b driven by its ETFs.
BRICS Coin? - Chair of the Russian Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko proposes BRICS adopt a crypto-based CBDC payment system.
#BUZZCHALLENGE
Get Private Credit Deals You Can’t Find Anywhere Else
If you’re earning over $200,000 a year, Heron Finance gives you the tools to turn private credit into income.
You’ll enjoy monthly interest payments, automated portfolio management, and easy access to private credit deals.
With their all-in-one platform, you’ll make high-yield investing simple and easy.
THE HOTTEST THING IN TECH
Trump’s ex-VC, Pro-AI & Pro-crypto VP Pick
Just days after being shot on-stage, former President Trump has chosen 39-yr-old Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for the 2024 election. Vance is a former venture capitalist, lawyer and author with close ties to Silicon Valley and is pro-crypto, and pro open-source AI. His addition to the ticket brings much-needed tech savvy and experience to a presidential race currently decidedly lacking in it. He could significantly influence policies affecting the startup and VC ecosystem if the Trump-Vance ticket is elected.
Background in Venture Capital
Trump’s VP announcement celebrated Vance's business background. He worked at Mithril Capital, co-founded by Peter Thiel, still a mentor and major contributor to Vance’s Senate campaign. Vance then joined Steve Case’s Revolution, before leaving to co-found Narya Capital focusing on startups in underserved regions of the US. Presidential candidate and fellow VC, Vivek Ramaswamy, served as a limited partner in Narya. ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen of a16z both backed Narya.
“The solution is open source”
Vance has made comments suggesting he is critical of big tech-controlled AI and in favor of a consumer-focused and Open Source AI approach. Vance favors a deregulation, or at least a slower regulation approach to AI. This may garner support from companies dedicated to AI, tech, and innovation as well as tech-libertarians. However, his ability to influence Trump, and other members of his team on this agenda is as yet unclear.
Pro Crypto
Vance will be a popular choice among crypto industry leaders. He recently drafted a bill that would revamp how the U.S. regulates digital assets, which sources say will be more crypto-friendly than the bill passed by the House in June. Trump has also been leaning into the crypto space increasingly, speaking at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville this week. So it is likely this policy will have traction, and with Vance at the helm working on the legal details could be a significantly positive development for the sector.
Why Vance Matters
It’s a big deal that Vance is the first former VC on a ticket since Mitt Romney. It will be interesting to watch his approach to antitrust issues. His record as an pro-competition advocate could clash with his desire to give VCs better options for liquidity through M&A than under the current FTC environment. It also could mean more democratized AI and finance with less big-tech domination. The “Hillbilly Elegy” author’s appointment suggests Trump is looking to appeal to anti-woke Silicon Valley and finance, while also strengthening his appeal to both the MAGA and traditional GOP base.
“Very often CEOs, especially of larger technology companies that I think already have advantageous positions in AI will come and talk about the terrible safety dangers of this new technology and how Congress needs to jump up and regulate as quickly as possible. And I can’t help but worry that if we do something under duress from the current incumbents, it’s going to be to the advantage of those incumbents and not to the advantage of the American consumer.“
Get our Deep Dive on Perplexity AI & how AI Search is adding value to Enterprises, Professionals, and Investors » Get Premium Deep Dives
FOR EMPLOYERS
Job Candidates
Request an intro to candidates - [email protected].
Struck Capital Venture Associate, ex-West2East (Russell Wilson) Director of Special Projects, ex-Phoenix Holdings Investment Associate. Harvard BA. Vietnamese pro basketball player.
Lockheed Martin Software Engineer, ex-Rutgers Junior Full Stack Developer. Secret clearance. Expertise in C++, PHP, SQL. Rutgers BA in Computer Science.
FOR INVESTORS
Open Deals
Request an intro to founders - [email protected]
Therapy for Baldness - Los Angeles, CA - Developed by ex-Kythera R&D Leader. Virtual development model and world class team seeking to fund POC study. (Seed)
AI Agent Employees - New York - Sophisticated workflow automation for businesses towards fully autonomous organizations. Previously-exited founder. Backed by Tribe & Kenetic. (Seed)
Outbound B2B Campaign AI Co-Pilot - Lexington, MA - Turn any CRM into an AI optimized sales agent for personalized customer campaigns. Founder previous exit to PE. Notable Angel on board. Top Hubspot App. Post revenue. (Seed)
TRENDING TOOLS AND BUZZY TECH
Tools
Meta - Llama-3 405B multimodal AI model due on July 23.
Samsung - AI upgrades to Bixby voice assistant will use in-house LLM.
AMD x HP - HP OmniBook to feature AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 processor.
Tech
Moon Cave - Lunar cave could redirect lunar colony and startup plans.
Beijing University - China builds 'world's first' 6G field test network.
Tesla - Sets end-of-year deadline for its 4680 battery cell tech.
DEALS WE’RE WATCHING
Closed Deals:
Genomic Analyzer - San Diego DNA sequencing startup Element Biosciences closed a $277M Series D led by Wellington Management and backed by Samsung, Fidelity, Foresite, T. Rowe Price, and Venrock.
Robotics Automation - New York AI robotic arms startup Standard Bots closed its $63M Series B led by General Catalyst, and backed by Amazon and Samsung.
Deals to Watch:
Wiz - Alphabet is in advanced talks to acquire Israeli cloud security company Wiz for ~$23b to strengthen its growing cloud business. Wiz recently raised $1b and had $350M in ARR at the time.
Funding Buzz Watch:
[Open Fund] Morgan Creek Digital - In talks with sovereign and institutional investors across the U.S., EU, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific to raise a ~$500M fund focused on early-stage AI, blockchain, chips, and data tech startups.
Paying members get access to the rest of this post and other
subscriber-only content and more.
Subscribers get:
Premium deep dives and market reports
Access to exclusive content
Unlimited access to ‘Open Deals’ & ‘Startup Directory’
Unlimited warm introductions to founders and job candidates
Up to 50% OFF advertising in The Tech Buzz
0% management fee on Buzz Capital syndicate investments