Meet the Silicon Valley billionaires, founders, and investors backing Kamala Harris
August 1, 20240
Katie Stanton.
Joe Scarnici/Getty Images
A founder of and general partner at venture capital firm Moxxie Ventures, Stanton has graced Forbes’ list of the most powerful women in technology. She was formerly Twitter’s vice president of international strategy.
When Biden dropped out, she called him a “hero” on X and listed many candidates who could replace him, with Harris as the first name on her list. She quickly expressed her support for Harris on the platform, reposting a video of her and saying that she is “fired up and ready to vote.”
Shortly after Biden dropped out, Stanton told the New York Times that most of Silicon Valley does not support Trump, despite Elon Musk and others’ endorsements for the former president.
“You have people with the loudest voices claiming to speak for the broader community, and the views don’t match,” she said. “By no means do they line up with the thousands of founders and employees and investors who live and work in Silicon Valley.”
Chris Sacca
Aileen Lee.
Cowboy Ventures
The Cowboy Ventures founder and VC angel investor coined the term “unicorn” and cofounded the nonprofit All Raise to advocate for women in venture capital.
Though Lee hasn’t written much publicly about her support for Harris, she responded to a conservative activist suing a VC firm supporting Black women owners last year on LinkedIn, writing, “With every opportunity we have – let’s vote in folks who are going to create and support more opportunities for economic empowerment and achievement, not spend their energy trying to crush opportunities for deserving, under represented folks.”
Deven Parekh
Mark Suster.
Allen J. Schaben/Getty Images
Suster is a well-known face in the Los Angeles venture capital scene, where he is a partner at the firm Upfront Ventures. He thanked Biden for dropping out in a post on X and has reshared various statements from Harris. In particular, he has posted about her stance on Israel and her condemnation of Hamas.
In his role at Upfront, Suster oversees more than $3 billion in assets and has enmeshed himself in the LA tech world.
Leslie Feinzaig
VCsForKamala may not have launched without Feinzaig, one of the primary organizers. She said that she formed the group partly in response to a cascade of tweets from Silicon Valley leaders supporting Trump and characterized it as a grass-roots effort.
Feinzaig is the managing director of the firm Graham & Walker and the cofounder of Female Founders Alliance, according to her LinkedIn. She celebrated the VCsForKamala launch on Twitter and posted updates throughout Wednesday, noting that by the late afternoon, 400 people had signed their names.
When Biden dropped out, Fainzaig retweeted his letter breaking the news with the caption, “It’s done.” She announced her support for Harris in a tweet the following day, and the day after posted a screenshot proving that she purchased a now-widespread domain name: vsforkamala.
