Defense venture capitalists, eager for proximity to power, are hosting fundraising events and conferences at the winter White House. If they’re lucky, the president-elect himself will stop.
from David JeansForbes Staff
Oon the last eveningNeil Keegan, a defense technology investor, held a meeting, gathering limited partners to hear how his firm Marlinspike Partners planned to become a major backer of startups building weapons to arm the US military. The event – cocktails and a presentation – was largely a numbers affair.
What was unusual was its location: President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. The property, once a destination for fancy weddings and galas, and now a political hotbed, has become a favored location for venture capital funds, hoping that the appearance of proximity to the incoming president will bolster their fundraising efforts. – or it will result in a chance meeting with someone who has his ear. “The energy that Mar-a-Lago and the new administration represents is that change is coming and change is needed,” Keegan said. Forbes, adding that he had bumped into Trump while at the club. “When he came out, I stood up and said, ‘Good luck, sir,'” Keegan explained. “He looked straight at me and gave me the famous point and said, ‘thank you very much’.”
Trump’s so-called ‘Winter White House’ in Palm Beach, Florida, has been the nerve center of his presidential transition, attracting business titans, foreign leaders and politicians. There has also been a conga line of Silicon Valley leaders who have made the pilgrimage to dine with Trump, including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook (who donated to Trump’s inaugural committee). Other tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen have taken more permanent positions at the club, helping with the proposed Department of Government Efficiency and recruiting efforts for the next administration.
But amid the whirlwind of billionaires and power brokers shaping America’s future in clubbing, access to its gilded event spaces for smaller firms like Marlinspike, which hopes to raise more than $100 million to invest in technology weapons and to help portfolio companies secure government contracts has been surprisingly easy—and helped bring the project much closer to the incoming president and his inner circle. his tight. (The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.)
Mar-a-Lago “is where everybody is now.”
Last month, Type One Ventures, a firm that has raised more than $100 million, according to Pitchbook, and backs companies seeking to contribute to “interplanetary civilization,” held a luncheon focused on promoting investments in space and AI companies. Alongside associates of 1789 Capital — which recently hired Donald Trump Jr. as a partner — members of Trump’s inner circle met with guests including David Sacks, the tech billionaire and future Czar of AI and crypto, and Jacob Helberg, a Palantir adviser who would become undersecretary. for economic growth, energy and the environment. (Through spokeswoman Marcy Simon, Type One managing partner Tarek Waked declined to comment; 1789 did not respond.)
And this week, another firm, Balerion Space Ventures, is holding a one-day defense technology summit headlined by Tom Mueller, Elon Musk’s first employee at SpaceX, and Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistan’s former ambassador to the U.S. who now runs a space company in the United Arab Emirates. Co-founder Philip Scully, who has raised $60 million in two funds and is now raising for Balerion’s third, said he expected potential administration officials to leave. “We’re entering a period of time where it’s the golden age of hardware investment,” he said. Mar-a-Lago “is where everybody is now.”
Marlinspike CEO Keegan, a US Navy veteran and financier, launched the firm’s first fund in 2022 and has backed defense unicorns like weapons maker Anduril, drone maker Shield AI and SpaceX. During the event last week, about 60 people gathered under the Tea Room’s heavy gold curtains and crystal chandelier. With Carla Sands, the Trump administration’s former ambassador to Denmark, plus family offices, institutional investors and U.S. veterans in attendance, Keegan underscored the group’s closeness to history: Trump had vetted his potential cabinet picks in the room weeks ago. Later, at a dinner held in Palm Beach, an attendee posted on LinkedIn that Donald Trump Jr. was dining at a nearby table, having just returned from his widely reported trip to Greenland. “You could feel the momentum,” Keegan told the crowd.
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In an interview with Forbeshe clarified that Marlinspike, which counts a former senior CIA official among its partners, is a “decidedly apolitical firm” but admitted that the incident “may have been a subliminal notion of some connection with the administration”.
That was a departure from the past, he said, when Marlinspike previously eschewed opportunities to host events at Mar-a-Lago, available thanks to a limited partner who is a member of the club. “I didn’t want to bore half the potential universe of limited partners,” he said. But since Trump was elected, he said the firm’s backers are “very favorable to the next administration.”
After Trump bought Mar-a-Lago in the 1980s, the private club was frowned upon by the swashbuckling Palm Beach crowd for its on-the-nose opulence. But since Trump’s first term in office, attendance has become a side door to the nation’s highest office. And Trump himself has attended several investor events. The week after the election, Trump stopped by a Mar-a-Lago event held by Azoria Capital, which was announcing a fund, CEO James Fishback said. Forbes. “For the last two months there is no doubt that it is the center of the universe. I’ve talked to Elon there, to RFK, to Trump himself several times,” Fishback said. “People have access to the president and important conversations, which means he can hit the ground running on day one.”
Perhaps most surprising is the ease and speed with which these firms are organizing their events. With a Mar-a-Lago member to sponsor their gatherings (initiation fees for new members can exceed $1 million), the Balerion and Marlinspike events were planned within weeks. “I like, this is America, we’re a capitalist country,” Keegan said. “This is about business.”
Those attending Balerion’s event this week — including companies like Radiant, which makes portable nuclear reactors, and Space Nukes, a firm trying to deliver fission energy into space — will meet and mingle with officials. government officials from the US Space Force and NASA, Scully said. Not to mention the handy chance to run into members of Trump’s inner circle, like Musk. “If Elon thought it was interesting and was able to come, it’s very convenient for him,” he said.
It’s unclear whether Mar-a-Lago will hold the same allure after Trump moves to DC next week after his inauguration. “Seizing this moment, it’s now, and I don’t know if it’s going to have cache or panache after January 20,” Keegan said. “I mean the guy basically ran the country from Mar-a-Lago since he got elected.”
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