Defense enterprise capitalists desperate to be near power host funding events and conferences on the White House through the winter. If they’re lucky, the president-elect himself will come along.
From David JeansForbes contributor
Owell last eveningNeil Keegan, a defense technology investor, held a pitch meeting bringing together limited partners to learn the way his firm, Marlinspike Partners, plans to turn into a number one backer of startups constructing weapons to arm the U.S. military. The event – cocktails and a presentation – was largely a paint-by-numbers affair.
The location was unusual: President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. The property, once a destination for colourful weddings and galas and now a hotbed of politics, has turn into a preferred location for enterprise capital funds hoping that its apparent proximity to the brand new president will bolster their fundraising efforts — or result in a probability meeting with someone who has his ear? “The energy that Mar-a-Lago and the new administration embody is that change is coming and change is needed,” Keegan said Forbes, He added that he met Trump during his stay on the club. “As he walked out, I stood up and said, ‘Good luck, sir,'” Keegan explained. “He looked right at me, gave me the famous point and said, ‘Thank you very much.'”
Trump’s so-called “Winter White House” in Palm Beach, Florida, was the nerve center of his presidential transition, attracting business giants, foreign executives and politicians alike. There was also the conga line of Silicon Valley executives who made the pilgrimage to dine with Trump, including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook (all of whom donated to Trump’s inauguration committee). Other tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen have larger plans everlasting positions within the club, help with the proposed Department of Government Efficiency and Recruitment efforts for the approaching administration.
But amid the whirlwind of billionaires and power brokers shaping America’s future on the club, access to its gilded event spaces is open to smaller firms like Marlinspike, which hopes to boost over $100 million to speculate in weapons technology and secure portfolio firms Helping with government contracts was surprisingly easy – and helped to convey an excessive closeness to the brand new president and his inner circle. (The Trump transition team didn’t reply to a request for comment.)
Mar-a-Lago “is where everyone is right now.”
Last month, Type One Ventures, an organization that has raised greater than $100 million in keeping with Pitchbook and supports firms in search of to contribute to “interplanetary civilization,” held one Lunch The focus is on promoting investments in space and AI firms. In addition to the co-hosts of 1789 Capital, which recently hired Donald Trump Jr. as a partner, members of Trump’s inner circle met with guests including David Sacks, the tech billionaire and latest AI and crypto czar, and Jacob Helberg , a Palantir adviser set to turn into undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment. (Through spokeswoman Marcy Simon, Type One managing partner Tarek Waked declined to comment; 1789 didn’t respond.)
And this week one other company, Balerion Space Ventures, is hosting a one-day defense technology summit led by Tom Mueller, Elon Musk’s first worker at SpaceX, and Hamdullah Mohib, the previous Afghan ambassador to the US who now runs an area company within the United Arab Emirates . Co-founder Philip Scully, who has raised $60 million across two funds and is now raising for Balerion’s third, said he expected potential administrators to come back calling. “We are entering a period where the golden age of hardware investment is beginning,” he said. Mar-a-Lago “is where everyone is right now.”
Marlinspike CEO Keegan, a U.S. Navy veteran and financier, launched the corporate’s first fund in 2022 and has backed defense unicorns comparable to weapons maker Anduril, drone maker Shield AI and SpaceX. During last week’s event, around 60 people gathered under the Tea Room’s heavy gold curtains and crystal chandelier. With Carla Sands, Keegan, the Trump administration’s former ambassador to Denmark in addition to family offices, institutional investors and U.S. veterans, underscored the group’s proximity to history: Trump had vetted his potential Cabinet members within the room weeks earlier. Later, at a dinner in Palm Beach, one participant continued writing LinkedIn that Donald Trump Jr. was dining at a close-by table, having just returned from his highly publicized trip to Greenland. “You can feel the momentum,” Keegan told those gathered.
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In an interview with ForbesHe clarified that Marlinspike, whose partners include a high-ranking former CIA official, was a “thoroughly apolitical company,” but acknowledged that the incident “may have been a subtle notion of a government connection.” “.
That’s a departure from the past, he said, when Marlinspike previously avoided opportunities to host events at Mar-a-Lago that were possible due to a limited partner who’s a member of the club. “I didn’t want to upset half the potential limited partners,” he said. But since Trump was elected, he said the corporate’s supporters have turn into “very sympathetic to the new administration.”
After Trump bought Mar-a-Lago within the Eighties, the private club was founded frowned upon from the Palm Beach wasp crowd for his intrusive exuberance. But since Trump’s first term, visiting the venue has turn into a side door to the best office within the land. And Trump himself has attended some investor events. Weeks after the election, Trump attended an Azoria Capital event at Mar-a-Lago where a fund was announced, CEO James Fishback said Forbes. “For several months there has been no doubt that it is the center of the universe. I spoke there several times with Elon, with RFK and with Trump himself,” Fishback said. “People have access to the president and important conversations, which means he can hit the ground running from day one.”
Perhaps most striking is the convenience and speed with which these firms organize their events. With a Mar-a-Lago member sponsoring their gatherings (inauguration). New Member Fees The Balerion and Marlinspike events exceeded $1 million and were planned inside weeks. “I love it, this is America, we’re a capitalist country,” Keegan said. “This is all about business.”
Those attending the Balerion event this week – including firms like Radiant, which makes portable nuclear reactors, and Space Nukes, an organization attempting to use fission energy in space – will meet and interact with government officials from the US Space Force and NASA “Exchange them,” Scully said. Not to say the helpful opportunity to fulfill members of Trump’s inner circle like Musk. “If Elon found it interesting and was able to come, that’s very convenient for him,” he said.
It’s unclear whether Mar-a-Lago could have the identical appeal when Trump moves to Washington after his inauguration next week. “I’m capturing this moment, it’s now, and I don’t know if it will be as impactful or as expressive after January 20th,” Keegan said. “I mean, the guy has basically been running the country from Mar-a-Lago since he got elected.”
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