Source: North American Business Telecommunications

The latest news shows that on Wednesday, Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, a large American private venture capital firm, announced in a podcast that he and co-founder Marc Andreessen will invest millions of dollars to support Trump's presidential campaign and support Trump's recently announced running mate Senator JD Vance.

It is worth noting that JD Wen began his career in venture capital, working at Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital and Steve Case-backed Revolution.

Horowitz and Andreessen are the latest and most prominent members of the U.S. startup investment community to publicly support Trump. So far, there are quite a few people in Silicon Valley who openly support Trump, including conservative firebrand Peter Thiel and the combative host of the All-In podcast and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.

And of course there’s Elon Musk, who has made no secret of his disdain for President Joe Biden and pledged to donate $45 million a month to a new Trump-aligned super PAC, according to media reports.

Some venture capitalists see the selection of Vance as a running mate as a sign that a second Trump administration will take a more pro-tech stance, according to interviews with more than a dozen startup investors in the Bay Area and New York.

“I think more and more people in Silicon Valley are willing to support Trump now,” said one startup investor. “As big names join in, more people will follow suit. Make America Great Again has a large asset management scale, so it is very influential in our ecosystem.”

The latest announcement from Andreessen Horowitz, a firm that controls more than $56 billion and whose name is synonymous with startup culture, could set off a race in the venture capital community to support Trump.

“If someone is a Trump supporter and is worried about being left out in the future, this does benefit them,” said the head of a San Francisco venture capital firm that manages more than $300 million. But even so, he doesn’t think this represents a sea change for the industry, but only “a change for a few companies.”

But others in Silicon Valley see it differently.

Another venture capitalist said: "Many venture capitalists now hold very conservative views and think that Trump is more or less disgusting, but at the same time, Trump may be more beneficial to business."

Bradley Tusk, a political strategist turned venture capitalist who has worked for prominent Democrats such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, said he has noticed a shift in recent months as more investors express support for Trump.

“If they believe there’s a high probability that Trump will win, they’ll look at their portfolio companies and say to themselves: ‘Well, at least I should have some influence over who wins,’ ” he said.

Tusk noted that many venture capitalists see more economic benefits under the Trump/Vance administration.

“Venture capitalists are like every voter, you look back at how your life and job were under one president and compare it to another. From a pure venture liquidity perspective, life and work were better under Trump. That’s not necessarily Biden’s fault, but it’s the reality,” he said.

Many venture capitalists point to the Biden administration’s tight regulation of the crypto industry, its stance on artificial intelligence and what they see as the anti-business leanings of Federal Trade Commissioner Lina Khan, who frequently files lawsuits to block mergers.

“The venture capital industry has been going through a very turbulent period, with few IPOs and the FTC freezing major M&A deals, and investors are voting with their wallets,” said one New York venture capitalist. “VCs believe the M&A/IPO market will reopen faster under Trump.”

“Vince is more in favor of a light-touch regulatory approach to tech, especially in the crypto space,” said one Bay Area venture capitalist. “People have been avoiding investing in this space given the personal risk of trying to innovate under the current SEC stance, but Vince is bringing opportunity. Antitrust and FTC rulings may also move in a direction that favors capitalists.”

Most venture capitalists interviewed by the media were unanimous in their opposition to Lina Khan.

"We need the FTC to deregulate, it's too bad. We can't sell our company because Lina Khan is blocking every merger," said a New York venture capitalist, who also expressed concern about Trump's anti-democratic tendencies.

“Lina Khan is so out of control with the judiciary,” complained another Bay Area venture capitalist. “This is really bad for innovation.”

However, Vance has also expressed support for Khan's antitrust policies, saying in February that she was "one of the few people in the Biden administration who I think is doing a pretty good job."

For now, venture capitalists don’t seem too concerned about Vance’s potential pro-regulatory stance.

“Choosing Vance as a running mate makes the Trump campaign more pro-Silicon Valley,” said a Bay Area venture capitalist. “The switch from Democratic to Republican will allow your money to go further. Venture capitalists are here to make money, and if they don’t make money, then they don’t have a job.”

Not everyone sees Vance’s presidential selection as significant. “Vance hasn’t changed my opinion,” said one investor at Sequoia Capital, a longtime mainstay of the startup ecosystem. He said he’s noticed a Trump-leaning swing in the industry, but that has less to do with Vance and more to do with the general perception that a Trump administration would be more pro-tech.

Venture capitalists also want Biden to withdraw from the race due to concerns about his suitability for the presidency.

“If Biden and Trump officially face off, I think a lot of ‘anti-Trump’ people will support Trump,” said a Bay Area venture capitalist. “If Biden is replaced by someone who is not bad, I think a lot of people will vote for the Democratic Party. In my chats with venture capitalists, many people talk about wanting to change people so that they don’t have to vote for Trump.”

“I personally care more about a strong democracy that values ​​the rights of all people than I do about my bank account (and I don’t think a government that doesn’t respect the rule of law is good for anyone’s bank account),” said investor David Hornik, founding partner at Lobby Capital. “Vince is not a friend of business, nor a friend of democracy, nor a friend of a well-functioning economy. I think the venture capital community should be smart enough to recognize that.”