Many angel and venture capital investments are never publicly disclosed, but some are tracked in various databases. Available information shows that members of President Donald Trump’s family have been investing in start-ups—mostly in the tech sector—for several years.
The president’s oldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, was an angel investor in July 2014 in the series A funding round for retailer Spring (Shopspring.com). A number of other angel and venture capital investors also participated in the round, including Thrive Capital, Box Group, Google Ventures and Groupe Arnault. Spring is a digital shopping site where consumers can buy clothing, shoes and lifestyle products directly from brands and designers.
Ivanka Trump also made a seed-stage investment in April 2015 in Twigtale. The start-up creates personalized children’s books to help 2- to 8-year-olds navigate childhood transitions, such as starting school, moving to a new home and experiencing the loss of a pet.
President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (Ivanka’s husband) was an angel investor in February 2010 in the series A round of Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform for creative projects. Kushner also invested in October 2009 in the series A round of Hot Potato, a service that helps people socialize at live events and share what they’re doing with others. Facebook acquired Hot Potato in August 2010.
In addition, Kushner provided series A funding for his own real estate tech start-up, Cadre, which he founded with his brother Joshua Kushner and CEO Ryan Williams in 2015. Cadre is a platform that connects accredited and institutional investors with vetted commercial real estate deals. Cadre’s investors include family offices, endowments and sovereign wealth funds. Kushner Companies, the family’s real estate business, participated in Cadre’s series A and series B rounds, completed in March 2015 and January 2016, respectively.
In 2009, Joshua Kushner founded Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm focused on media and internet investments. As of early May, Thrive reportedly had 122 investments in 85 companies. Its recent investments include Morty (a $3 million seed-stage investment in May 2017); Robinhood (a $110 million series C investment in April 2017); Instacart (a $400 million series D investment in March 2017); Lemonade (a $34 million series B investment in December 2016); and Oscar (a $400 million private equity investment in February 2016). Joshua Kushner is also a co-founder of health insurance start-up Oscar.
Robert S. Trump, the president’s brother, was an angel investor in 2010 in iFollo, a social network platform for sharing pictures and videos of encounters with celebrities. The company appears to be out of business, as its domain (iFollo.com) is for sale. Robert Trump has also backed game developer ZeniMax Media.
Sources: CB Insights; Crunchbase.
