A short drive from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, in a small office a block from the beach, sits the headquarters of 1789 Capital, a firm founded just a few years ago with plans to invest in businesses aligned with conservative values.
Since Donald Trump Jr. joined as a partner shortly after his father’s reelection, 1789 Capital has rapidly grown to manage billions of dollars in assets with a strategy that closely reflects the president’s policies.
Companies backed by 1789 Capital have also significantly increased their federal funding under the Trump administration, a CNN analysis of contracting data found.
Ten defense, space and software companies that Trump Jr.’s firm is invested in have been awarded over $1.6 billion from federal contracts and grants in the first 500 days of Trump’s second term – 79% more than the amount they were awarded during the same time period at the end of President Joe Biden’s term. That doesn’t include a handful of other federal loans and subcontracts worth more than $1 billion in total that other startups backed by the firm are on track to receive under the Trump administration.
1789 Capital leaders have also backed companies that could financially benefit from policy moves made by the administration – including a firm promoting direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical sales, a company that sells testosterone and a vaping manufacturer.
