Author: Zen, PANews
A venture capital firm called 1789 Capital had only $150 million in assets under management in 2024, but by the summer of 2026 it had "swollen" to more than $3 billion. In less than two years, its scale expanded by more than 20 times.
Now, it is in talks to raise $3 billion for a second growth fund, and has already raised about $2 billion from existing investors.
Such a growth rate is astonishing, but when you know that the partner of this fund is Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. (hereinafter referred to as "Trump Jr."), you will suddenly understand with a knowing smile.
From campaign supporter to fund partner
In the summer of 2018, at a barbecue party in the Hamptons, New York, Trump Jr.'s then-girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle introduced him to banker Omeed Malik.
At that time, Trump was in the White House for his first term, and Trump Jr., together with his brother Eric, was managing the family real estate business their father had handed to them. But since Trump decided to run in the presidential election, Trump Jr.'s political activities also increased.
As early as the 2016 election, the 39-year-old Trump Jr. was sent to small towns and rural areas to win voters for his father. In 2018 alone, he attended more than 70 events for Republican candidates and state party organizations. Through repeated speeches, canvassing, and fundraising activities, he gradually built his own political network and also gained a group of conservative supporters.
Malik was one of them. This former Democrat and Trump Jr. shared a common political language: in October 2020, the two co-signed an article on the conservative website The Daily Caller, criticizing American companies' dependence on the Chinese market and advocating that companies cooperate with the government's national security goals and regain control of supply chains.
On the eve of the Capitol riot in early 2021, Trump Jr. and his father co-hosted a "Save America" rally. He took a hard line at the event, threatening to challenge Republican lawmakers who did not support his father in party primaries, and even declared: "This is no longer their Republican Party, this is Donald Trump's Republican Party!"
By 2024, Trump Jr. was deeply involved in his father's campaign to return to the White House. Where his father could not be in two places at once, the son filled in. When Trump was attending the civil fraud trial in New York, Trump Jr. went to the Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa, to canvass voters on his behalf.
On the issue of the vice presidential candidate, Trump Jr. also actively lobbied his father to choose his good friend, Ohio Senator Vance. On election night, in an interview, Trump Jr. half-jokingly described his investment: "I used 10,000% of my political capital."
In November 2024, the presidential election results came out, and Trump won a return to the White House. On the evening of November 10, on the first weekend after his father won the election, Trump Jr. attended the Rockbridge donor event in Las Vegas. This gathering of the conservative donor network brought together aides and funders from the Trump camp. Facing hundreds of political donors, Trump Jr. announced that he would join 1789 Capital.
As his father returned to the center of power, Trump Jr. chose "fund partner" as his new identity. At 1789, Trump Jr. is responsible for finding investment opportunities, raising capital, and formulating strategy. The official website particularly emphasizes that his extensive relationships between companies and investors can expand the institution's network.
1789 Capital was founded in 2022 by Malik, Christopher Buskirk, and major Republican donor Rebekah Mercer, and announced its launch in 2023. The company's name comes from 1789, the year the Bill of Rights was proposed. It focuses on products and companies related to conservative values and styles itself as anti-ESG (environmental, social, governance).
With the support of a grand narrative, its investment philosophy is also called "patriotic capitalism." Manufacturing reshoring, supply chain security, and companies serving conservative consumers are all targets for its funds.
This investment institution, little known before Trump Jr. joined, did not have much capital or many investment opportunities in its early days. It invested in 5 companies in 2023 and 2024. One of its earlier well-known investments was participating in a $15 million financing round for conservative host Tucker Carlson's new media company.
As Trump re-entered the White House and Trump Jr. joined forcefully, relying on a network of relationships interwoven with politics and business, 1789 began to move into broad and highly controversial areas.
Turning political and business networks into an investment portfolio
On the evening of June 13, 2025, in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., a private club called The Executive Branch, co-founded by Trump Jr. and Malik, held an opening party. The Executive Branch, literally translated, means "the executive branch."
According to the New York Post, the initiation fee paid by founding members was as high as $500,000. Treasury Secretary Bessent, Commerce Secretary Lutnick, and Nvidia founder Jensen Huang all appeared among the guests. Photography was prohibited inside, and phone cameras had to be covered with stickers.
What The Executive Branch offers is clearly not just a place for clinking glasses and enjoying wine. When government officials, tech entrepreneurs, and political donors can meet in the same space, a resource that was originally difficult to price is packaged into an expensive commercial service. Although this club is organizationally independent of 1789, it shares the most elite network of relationships.
The door of the private club is far from defining the boundary of Trump Jr. and Malik's political and business interactions. During Trump's campaign, Malik met Musk, and subsequently 1789 participated in investments in SpaceX, xAI, and Neuralink. In March 2025, the Financial Times reported that 1789's investments in xAI and SpaceX exceeded $50 million.
In less than two years, 1789 achieved rocket-like growth—from a fund size of about $150 million in 2024 to more than $3 billion by the summer of 2026, expanding to more than 20 times its original size.
According to a person familiar with the matter, as of June 30 this year, the return rate of its main investment fund was about 200%. Although 1789's investment cycle is still in its early stages, according to data from financial data provider PitchBook, these returns far exceed the average return of about 21% for venture capital firms founded in 2023.
The success of this venture capital firm has also attracted the attention of House Democrats. In August this year, Representative Jamie Raskin sent a letter to the leadership of 1789, requesting the company's investment list, records of communications with the government, and information on the decision to hire Trump Jr.
Although Trump Jr. and Malik acknowledge their relationships with the president's broader circle of donors, influential supporters, and senior officials, they do not believe that 1789's success comes from direct contact with the president, and they scoff at these questions.
Donald Trump Jr. defended himself by saying that as an ordinary citizen he is free to invest and has done nothing illegal. He said he speaks with his father once every few weeks and never discusses business matters with him, and that he holds no policy position or office in the government. Malik, for his part, emphasized his physical distance from the political center, saying he has never set foot in the White House.
However, even while keeping his distance from the president, for Donald Trump Jr., who is close to policymakers, conflating business with politics would likewise invite public criticism. In March of this year, Donald Trump Jr. spoke out on behalf of prediction markets at an event held by the Republican Attorneys General Association, arguing that regulation should be left to the federal level.
Whether states can restrict these platforms under gambling laws has been the core controversy facing the industry over the past year. And Donald Trump Jr.'s speaking out for prediction markets was not out of a sense of justice, but entirely out of self-interest.
A guest of honor at the two major prediction markets
In July 2024, during the Republican National Convention, at a rooftop bar in Milwaukee, Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan, wearing a black T-shirt, was surrounded by Republicans in suits and ties. But what may have left the deepest impression on him was sitting at the same table with Donald Trump Jr. and Malik.
At the time, Donald Trump Jr. expressed his approval of Polymarket to him, saying that the election trends shown on it matched what he was hearing from voters. Not long after, 1789 made its first investment in Polymarket before the 2024 election. After Trump won the presidential election and Donald Trump Jr. joined 1789 as a partner, the firm invested in Polymarket again.
Polymarket, which drew widespread attention because of the U.S. election, was still subject to U.S. market access restrictions at that time. As early as 2022, it had reached a settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over issues including failure to register in accordance with the law and paid a $1.4 million fine. For Polymarket, the election brought traffic and reputation, but turning these into a bigger business still required resolving regulatory issues.
On the other side, Kalshi secured room to conduct election contract trading through litigation in 2024. This platform, regulated by the CFTC, also came into the Trump family's view. According to Donald Trump Jr.'s own account, on election night at Mar-a-Lago, he and his family and friends watched the election through Kalshi and became certain of his father's victory earlier than through television media. This experience was later written into the announcement of Kalshi hiring him, becoming a personal endorsement of prediction markets from the president's eldest son.
Two months later, on January 13, 2025, one week before Trump was formally inaugurated, Kalshi announced that Donald Trump Jr. would serve as a strategic adviser, hoping to use his business experience and influence to reach more partners and users and bring prediction markets into the mainstream.
Joining as an adviser, Donald Trump Jr. was also granted Kalshi shares worth about $300,000. At that time, Kalshi's valuation was still less than $2 billion. As Kalshi continued to expand, by May 2026, the company's valuation in a funding round had reached $22 billion.
In the summer of 2025, Polymarket also reached a turning point. After the criminal and civil investigations into the company ended, it subsequently acquired QCEX, which holds a CFTC-related license, for $112 million, laying out a compliance path for returning to the U.S. market.
On August 26, Polymarket announced that it had received a strategic investment from 1789 and also hired Donald Trump Jr. to join its advisory board; in November 2025, Polymarket obtained an amended designation order from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and began actively expanding into the U.S. market.
The two major prediction market giants have always been at odds in competing for users and market share, but on the matter of hiring the president's son, they were surprisingly unanimous. In February 2026, Kalshi founder Tarek Mansour gave an interview to the Financial Times and, when talking about Donald Trump Jr., commented: "He is very helpful."
The cooperation between Donald Trump Jr. and 1789 and the prediction markets also continued to deepen. At the end of June this year, Coplan came to Malik's home in the Hamptons to discuss how to improve Polymarket's operations and prepare for a possible listing.
At the end of August, The Wall Street Journal reported that 1789 was serving as the lead investor in a $1 billion funding plan for Polymarket, with an expected investment of about $300 million. In addition, the plan would bring Polymarket's valuation to $21 billion.
From a dining table during the campaign to an advisory seat, equity, and continued additional investment, Donald Trump Jr. has tightly tied his own business interests to the prospects of prediction markets.
Returning to the $3 billion fundraising that 1789 is currently conducting, what investors need to judge includes not only the company's products, orders, and valuation, but also how much business advantage this fund's position close to the center of power can actually bring.
And for Donald Trump Jr., no matter how richly written his professional resume and job description are, they ultimately cannot outweigh the blood relationship implied behind them: "the president's eldest son."
