US venture capitalist Ben Horowitz to make ‘significant’ donation to Kamala Harris

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Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz said he will make a “significant donation” in support of Kamala Harris’s presidential election campaign, just weeks after he and Marc Andreessen shocked Silicon Valley by backing her Republican rival Donald Trump.

Horowitz told staff at his venture capital firm on Friday that he and his wife Felicia would be backing the Democratic candidate and her running mate Tim Walz, having been personal friends with the vice-president for a decade.

“As a result of our friendship, Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to entities who support the Harris-Walz campaign,” he wrote in a note seen by the Financial Times.

The 2024 election, which is entering its final month, has divided Silicon Valley’s elite. Horowitz and Andreessen — two of the most influential figures in the Valley and both long-term Democrats — announced in mid-July that their firm would be supporting Trump’s campaign. Along with Elon Musk and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, they became the highest-profile Trump backers in tech.

Horowitz said in a video explaining their decision at the time that the Democratic administration was “nuking the industry” and making life increasingly challenging for start-ups and their investors.

Just a week after the pair’s support for Trump emerged, however, President Joe Biden announced he would withdraw from the race. Democratic support quickly coalesced behind Harris as his replacement.

“Things changed, Biden dropped out [and] Ben and Felicia found themselves in a position where their friend was running,” said a person familiar with Horowitz’s thinking.

Horowitz’s support for Harris could put him at odds with the firm he co-leads, which continues to back Trump on a number of issues.

Since the July endorsement of Trump, Andreessen Horowitz has donated to various funds affiliated with the former president, working on areas where it has significant interests, such as cryptocurrencies.

Ben and Felicia Horowitz are hopeful they can encourage Harris towards their position on various tech issues but, according to the person familiar with Horowitz’s thinking, their donation does not change Andreessen Horowitz’s support for Trump on specific issues such as crypto and artificial intelligence regulation.

The firm’s leaders are working with politicians on both sides of the aisle to advance their agenda, and don’t want “all their eggs in the Trump basket”, the person added.

In his note to staff on Friday, the contents of which were first reported by Axios, Horowitz wrote: “Although I have had several conversations with vice-president Harris and her team on their likely tech policies and am encouraged by my belief in her, they have not yet stated what their tech policy will be, so the firm will not be updating its position in that regard.”

“As we stated earlier, the Biden administration has been exceptionally destructive on tech policy across the industry, but especially as it relates to crypto/blockchain and AI,” he added.