Silicon Valley startup founders and venture capital investors are picking a side in this year’s presidential race in a stark departure for an industry they say has historically discouraged political activism.
In July, before Vice President Kamala Harris joined the race, venture titans Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz announced support for Donald Trump, who they said was better for startups and was less likely to overregulate technologies like artificial intelligence. Another group called “VCs for Kamala” has racked up more than 800 signatories over the past several weeks, including investors such as Mark Cuban, Vinod Khosla, and Andreessen Horowitz partner John O’Farrell.
On Thursday, more than two hundred women, many from digital health companies or venture firms, co-signed a public letter asserting that Harris was more likely than Trump to promote womens’ health, from preserving access to abortion and in vitro fertilization to supporting Medicare and Medicaid.
