 | |
| 1789 Capital | |
| Company type | Private |
| Founded | October 3, 2022 |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | Palm Beach, Florida |
Key people | Donald Trump, Jr. (partner) |
| AUM | US$861,247,283 (2025) |
| Total assets | US$861,247,283 (2025) |
Number of employees | 8 (2025) |
| Website | 1789capital |
1789 CapitalManagement, LLC is an Americanventure capital firm based inPalm Beach, Florida.[1][2] The company focuses on products and companies associated withconservative values, and positions itself as an anti-ESG investment firm.[3][4]
1789 Capital was founded on October 3, 2022.[5] The founders were members of theRockbridge Network, including investment bankerOmeed Malik, heiressRebekah Mercer, and entrepreneur Chris Buskirk. They created the firm as a result of the 2022 Rockbridge Summit.[6]Blake Masters was also involved in the initial conversation, according toBloomberg.[7] The group chose the number 1789 to reflect the year theU.S. Bill of Rights was adopted.[8][9][10]
The New York Times reported thatDonald Trump Jr. and Malik began planning investments together sometime around 2020, years before Trump Jr. joined the firm.[11]
Alexandra Ulmer and Joseph Tanfani fromReuters remark thatPeter Thiel was an instrumental force behind the creation of 1789 Capital. Buskirk was a confidant of Thiel's, while Blake Masters, who formerly worked forThiel Capital, was also a board member. The fund is intended to create a "parallel economy", a network that combines "businesses, media outlets and political organizations" associated with the America First movement.[12][13] The firm has invested inAnduril Industries, the defense manufacturing company Hadrian, and other Thiel-backed companies.[14][15]
The firm was originally registered inDelaware. As of September 2025[update], it is still registered there, but has its main office in Palm Beach, Florida, and conducts business in the state, with theTallahassee branch of theCorporation Service Company as theirregistered agent. They also have an office inScottsdale, Arizona.[5][16]
The firm made its first investment intoTucker Carlson andNeil Patel's new media company in 2023.[17][18] Shortly afterDonald Trump won the2024 United States presidential election, Trump's sonDonald Trump Jr. announced that he would be joining as a partner at 1789 Capital instead of joining his father in a government position.[19][20] 1789 Capital and Type One Ventures co-hosted a fundraising event atMar-a-Lago, which is owned by Donald Trump, on January 15, 2025, 5 days beforeTrump's inauguration.[21]
As of October 2025[ref], the main page for the 1789 Capital website says "Funding the Next Chapter of American Exceptionalism".[a][22][23]
In September 2025, the company reported its assets amounted to US$861,247,283.[16]
1789 Capital describes itself as promoting "patriotic capitalism", investing in companies that are "anti-woke" and "America First".[17][24][25][11][b] Malik has stated that the firm is only interested in companies that represent "entrepreneurship, innovation and growth", or "EIG", which he says means companies that have "noESG orDEI components in them whatsoever."[10] The company's other focuses include "deglobalization" (referring to companies that are moving their production to the US and pulling away from production in other countries),[c] and the creation of a "parellel economy" of conservative businesses, in what Malik has characterized as an effort to "depoliticize" investment.[17][26][27][28][29] Malik has also said that the firm "represent[s] the silent majority."[7][d]
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One goal of 1789 Capital is to create "a large, multi-strategy asset manager."[7] Its investments include:
The firm also invests in "almost all ofElon Musk's companies",[10] includingNeuralink,X (formerly Twitter),xAI, andSpaceX,[11][29][10][39][51][52][53] and signalled their intent to continue backing Musk's companies during apublic feud between Musk and Donald Trump.[54]
1789 Capital invested in GrabAGun, an online firearms retailer which Malik has called "theAmazon of guns",[38] partly because the company aligns with 1789 Capital's values.[39] In an interview withIPO Edge, Malik said,[38]
... we select companies that really are cornerstones of that vision of the economy that we want to take public. TheSecond Amendment is why we were so interested in the GrabAGun transaction as it overtly tries to enhance and insulate the Second Amendment from what we viewed to be a tax on it. Whether as a result of certain elements of the federal government, regulations and general reluctancy to invest in the space, capital markets have largely shut out companies like GrabAGun.
ION Analytics reported that according to partner Paul Abrahimzadeh, 1789 Capital is investing in "late-stage technology companies", including energy companies.[55]
The firm does not invest in companies such asOpenAI that they deem not supportive enough of the Trump administration. On the topic, Donald Trump Jr. said, “I’ve turned down major deals where the ethoses don’t align [...] There are people who have becomeMAGA more recently — and I don’t know they actually believe.”[7]
On September 3, 2025,Bloomberg reported that 1789 Capital had "lined up about $1 billion in initial investor interest" for a new fund that would be used to purchase properties inSouth Florida, and especially in Palm Beach andBoca Raton, in partnership with a real estate company called the Frisbie Group.[20][56]
In October 2025, Colombier Acquisition Corp. III, Malik'sspecial purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that has been involved in 1789 Capital's previous investments, filed for aninitial public offering (IPO) for theNew York Stock Exchange, with an initial share price of $10 and 26,000 units intended to raise US$260 million.[23]Roth Capital Partners was the underwriter for the move, andChamath Palihapitiya was reportedly planned to be a director for the company.[23]
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The firm was founded by Chris Buskirk,Omeed Malik, andRebekah Mercer. Malik serves as president. Buskirk is CIO. Jordan Cohen is listed as partner andCOO. Other partners include Paul Abrahimzadeh,[57] Andy Nasser,Donald Trump Jr., and Joe Voboril.[58]
Venture capitalistBlake Masters was previously listed as a member of the Board of Advisors,[59][60] but has since been removed from the website.[58]
Early backers includedMarc Andreessen,Charlie Kirk, andClay Travis.[7]
1789 Capital has aSouth Korea-basedthink tank called 1789 Partners. CEO of the group is Park Byung-eun, who is also involved with Rockbridge Korea, theSeoul-based branch of theRockbridge Network.[61]Chung Yong-jin ofShinsegae and Rockbridge Korea is also leading the project.[62][63]
Multiple media outlets, financial figures, government watchdogs, ethics experts, and variousDemocrats have criticized 1789 Capital for its ties to the Trump administration.[20][29][64][65]
Business Insider compared Donald Trump Jr. toHunter Biden, saying that Trump Jr.'s business dealings–including his involvement in 1789 Capital–resembles the unethical financial schemes that Hunter Biden was accused of pursuing duringhis father's presidency.[19][e] Trump Jr. rebuked the comparison in a post onX, calling Hunter Biden a "felon crackhead" and saying that unlike Hunter Biden, he was a businessman before his father's presidency, and his investments had "nothing to do with government".[20][66][67] Trump Jr. has repeated this claim when questioned aboutconflicts of interest,[29] and a spokesman for 1789 Capital toldThe New York Times that the firm "maximizes transparency and compliance, even though no one at the fund has ever worked in government."[11] Journalists withReuters andThe Daily Beast have disputed Trump Jr.'s claim that he is not profiting off of his father's presidency; one reporter argued that under Trump Jr. the firm has expanded significantly, and has diverted from its goal of "anti-wokeness" to invest in defense companies which have then received government contracts under the Trump administration.[68]Bloomberg,Reuters, andThe New York Times have reported that 1789 Capital has invested in multiple companies which received government contracts around the time that the firm invested in them.[11][40]
Business Insider also reported,[1]
One veteranWall Street investor, who has personally reviewed 1789's deals, says they enable the president's son to profit from the administration's actions, even if no contractors are given preferential treatment. "It's a way forMar-A-Lago to get paid," says the investor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Trump administration.
The Revolving Door Project[f] (RDP) has also raised concerns about 1789 Capital. They have highlighted some of the company's operations in their weekly "Corruption Calendar" newsletter alongside other controversies related to the Trump Administration, such asDonald Trump's cryptocurrency, Trump's acceptance of a jet gifted to him by the Qatari Royal Family during hisMay 2025 visit to the Middle East,[69] Omeed Malik's appointment to the board ofFannie Mae,[70] the Trump administration's choices of which federal employees to hire or terminate, and what the RDP calls "conflicts of interest" aroundDOGE and Elon Musk's involvement with the government.[69][g]
On the subject of Trump Jr.'s investments, Donald Sherman, executive vice president and chief counsel atCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), has said,[71]
I want to make clear that this is a problem, and it’s a problem that impacts the whole of government, but there is no modern or historical comparison for what Don Jr. and the President are doing. [...] The rules themselves aren’t designed, unfortunately, to force the adult children of government officials to report their financial entanglements. But Don Jr. and President Trump continue to make the case for why maybe they should.
There was some controversy around the firm's investment inPolymarket (and Trump Jr. joining the board of the company) because the investment was announced within months of theCommodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) dropping their investigation into the firm and subsequently un-banning them from doing business in the United States.[46][72] Better Markets president Dennis Kelleher said that Polymarket seemed to be using "a backdoor approach to become a regulated exchange."[72] Kelleher also wrote a letter to the CFTC questioning the circumstances of Polymarket's authorization:[72]
"The timeline here tells an interesting story. Polymarket had been under investigation by both the CFTC and theDepartment of Justice for potentially violating its 2022 settlement with the CFTC, which prohibited it from offering binary options to U.S. users. That investigation was reportedly serious enough for theFBI to raid the home of Polymarket's CEO and seize his phone and electronics. Yet in mid-July, after a change in administration, both agencies closed their investigations."
According to the drone and technology news siteDroneXL, Colby Goodman ofTransparency International has said the following about 1789 Capital:[73]
There’s always these risks that [Trump Jr.] is going to have inside information or be able to access inside information from the U.S. government for a whole range of things. Just from the procurement side, he could know about upcoming bids, and the content of what that is, and help them win contracts with the U.S. government.
TheDaily Kos, a left-wing media blog, commented sarcastically:[74]
It’s almost poetic, really. We used to call this kind of setup “crony capitalism.” But with 1789 Capital, we’re rebranding it as good ol’ American ingenuity. After all, this isn’t corruption; this is just how family values work! And if public policy ends up favoring [Donald Trump Jr.]'s investments, well, that’s just thefree market in action, right?
Around August or September 2025,Rebecca Ballhaus ofThe Wall Street Journal (WSJ) filed a broadFOIA request to theSEC, asking for "any records involving 1789 Capital, including any emails and text messages to or from 1789 Capital domains and any records that mention 1789 Capital."[24]John A. Jenkins ofLaw Street reported that this was remarkable because Ballhaus' work "focuses on politics and government and includes investigations into conflicts of interest across the federal government; harassment and abuse at federal agencies; and the role of high-dollar donors in politics."[24] Jenkins also said that "FOIA requests to the federal government can be an important early warning of bad publicity, litigation to come, or uncertainties to be hedged and gamed out", and that the request represents "a possible escalation of the tension between" Donald Trump andRupert Murdoch, who owns the WSJ and was sued by Trump earlier in the year for an article about the nature of the relationship betweenDonald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.[24][75]
In October 2025,The Wall Street Journal reported that 1789 Capital had "tried to sell sponsorships for a conference pitched to companies as the 'Inaugural U.S. Treasury A.I. Summit,' during which it said Treasury SecretaryScott Bessent would unveil the Treasury Department’s artificial-intelligence strategy."[64] TheU.S. Department of the Treasury said that they had not approved these promotional materials, and WSJ said that after their reporters inquired about the event, "the conference organizers released some details about it—including a different name for it, 'AI Summit on American Prosperity,' that no longer included the word 'Treasury.'"[64] Ethics expert Norm Eisen voiced concern that “the official imprimatur of the U.S. Treasury [was] being used for an event that appear[ed] to result in the personal gain of outside actors”.[64] Ja'han Jones ofMSNBC said that "the Trump administration" appeared to be "trying to downplay any appearance of impropriety", and that this incident "continue[d] the string of conflict of interest concerns emerging from 1789 Capital and its ties to the Trump family."[76]The Wall Street Journal also reported that the organizer for the event, a company called the Prometheus Initiative, was co-founded by Christopher Buskirk, who also co-founded 1789 Capital.[64]
Some have criticized 1789 Capital's investment into BlinkRX, since the firm–and Trump Jr.–are likely to benefit from Donald Trump's May 2025 executive order directing pharmaceutical manufacturers to offer an online option for people to purchase prescription drugs without using insurance. The criticism increased when, in September 2025, it was revealed that BlinkRX would be facilitatingTrumpRx, a government-run website where consumers will be able to purchase prescription drugs directly from manufacturers likePfizer, and that 1789 Capital and BlinkRX also hosted a "Future of Pharmaceuticals" conference featuring members of the Trump administration with a dinner at theExecutive Branch club, which is also owned by some of the members of 1789 Capital.[77][78][79][80][81][82][83]
Other critics includeRichard Painter and Ann Skeet.[29]
