Inside 1789 Capital: How Don Jr.’s VC Firm Surged to $3.5 Billion

Betting on AI, drones, and crypto, Donald Trump Jr.’s "patriotic capitalism" fund raises massive conflict-of-interest questions as his father’s administration boosts his portfolio.

Brian Daitzman is the Editor of The Intellectualist. Subscribe to his Substack.

Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm, which invests in private companies, has grown rapidly by betting on industries at the center of President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda, including artificial intelligence, defense technology, drones, computer chips and digital assets. The growth is sharpening questions about whether political access and business interests tied to the president’s family are becoming harder to separate in Washington.

According to reporting by the Financial Times, the firm, 1789 Capital, counts Mr. Trump Jr. as a partner, pitches itself around “patriotic capitalism” and has grown from $200 million to $3.5 billion in assets under management, meaning investor money the firm manages, over the past year. One partner told the newspaper the firm hoped to reach $10 billion in the next few years.

Its portfolio, or collection of investments, includes companies tied to artificial intelligence, data centers, computer chips, space, defense manufacturing, prediction markets and related technology. The Financial Times identified investments including Databricks, Ramp, Deel, Crusoe, Groq, Reflection AI, Elon Musk’s xAI, SpaceX, defense-tech company Anduril, Hadrian Automation, Vulcan Elements and Polymarket, a prediction-market platform.

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Those industries, including AI, defense, drones and digital assets, overlap with areas the Trump administration has promoted. Mr. Trump has moved to boost drones, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, U.S.-based manufacturing and national-security technology, areas where investors can profit from markets shaped by federal decisions.

In June 2025, Mr. Trump issued an executive order titled “Unleashing American Drone Dominance,” directing federal agencies to accelerate the wider commercial use of drone technology, expand domestic production and promote exports of American-made drone systems. The order does not mention 1789 Capital or Mr. Trump Jr., but it underscores the government support surrounding one of the investment themes highlighted in the reporting.

The administration has also embraced digital assets. Mr. Trump signed the GENIUS Act in July 2025, creating federal rules for stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a steady value. The White House described the law as part of an effort to make the United States a global leader in digital assets.

That policy shift came as crypto ventures tied to Mr. Trump or his family were drawing scrutiny over who profited, who gained access and how the administration was regulating the industry. Public Citizen described a private dinner for top buyers of Mr. Trump’s meme coin as “serving corruption,” arguing that the event raised concerns about whether access to the president was being marketed through a privately issued crypto token. Campaign Legal Center separately warned that the administration’s crypto posture was overshadowed by conflicts of interest.