Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, is rapidly expanding by investing in AI, defence and technology companies linked to America-first policies, as reported by Financial Times. The Florida-based firm said its assets under management have surged from $200 million to $3.5 billion in just one year after making deals with some of the biggest private AI companies.
Paul Abrahimzadeh, a partner at 1789 Capital, said the company now wants to grow into a $10 billion investment firm over the next few years. He compared the company to The Carlyle Group, a famous Washington investment firm known for its political connections.
“Understanding the political landscape is important when you’re allocating capital,” said Abrahimzadeh to Financial Times. “If you’re sitting in [Silicon] Valley, it may not be a core competency but founders want and need to understand geopolitical and macro factors that impact their businesses.”
Firm says it wants to invest only in America
Abrahimzadeh said the company’s long-term strategy is focused completely on the United States. He said the “enduring thesis” of 1789 Capital was to “only invest in America”. Over the past year, the company has invested in several major private tech firms, including Databricks, Ramp, Deel, Crusoe, Groq and Reflection AI.
Political connections helping the company expand
1789 Capital’s close ties to Donald Trump’s political network appear to be helping the company grow. Mohsen Moazami, president of Groq’s international business, said he first met the company’s partners during a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort attended by Donald Trump and Elon Musk. He said the firm received an “A-plus” for helping connect its companies with influential people in the US and overseas. Moazami also said Donald Trump Jr was a major strength for the company because its name “cannot be ignored”. However, he warned that “if the pendulum swings [politically] you may get a magnifying glass on you”.
Big investments in AI, defence and Musk companies
1789 Capital has also invested in Elon Musk’s xAI and SpaceX. SpaceX is reportedly expected to go public next month at a valuation of $1.75 trillion. The company has also backed defence start-ups such as Anduril, Hadrian Automation and Vulcan Elements, along with prediction market platform Polymarket. One of the firm’s biggest recent wins has been chipmaker Cerebras. The company’s value reportedly jumped to $60 billion after its Wall Street debut this week. 1789 Capital first invested in Cerebras in 2025 when the company was valued at $8 billion. It later invested again when the valuation rose to $23 billion.
From Tucker Carlson investment to AI expansion
1789 Capital was founded around three years ago by Omeed Malik, Chris Buskirk and Rebekah Mercer.Its first investment was Tucker Carlson’s media company in 2023. After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, the company hired Donald Trump Jr and later invested in prescription drug delivery company Blink Health. Abrahimzadeh joined the company in 2025 after previously working at Citigroup as co-head of equity capital markets in North America.
Deep links to Trump allies and Republican donors
The company’s political ties extend far beyond Donald Trump Jr. Omeed Malik is a Trump donor and was involved in efforts to bring Robert F Kennedy Jr closer to Trump during the 2024 election campaign. Last year, Malik and Trump Jr also launched a private members club in Washington called Executive Branch with Alex and Zach Witkoff, the sons of billionaire real estate businessman Steve Witkoff.
Chris Buskirk also co-founded an influential donor network with JD Vance, who is now the US vice-president. The network was backed by billionaire investor Peter Thiel. Rebekah Mercer and her father Robert Mercer, the former CEO of Renaissance Technologies, were also major financial supporters of Trump during the 2016 presidential election.