1789 Capital was founded on October 3, 2022.[5] The founders were members of the Rockbridge Network, including investment banker Omeed Malik, heiress Rebekah Mercer, and entrepreneur Chris Buskirk. They created the firm as a result of the 2022 Rockbridge Summit.[6]Blake Masters was also involved in the initial conversation, according to Bloomberg.[7] The group chose the number 1789 to reflect the year the U.S. Bill of Rights was adopted.[8][9][10]
As of September2025[ref], the main page for the 1789 Capital website says "Funding the Next Chapter of American Exceptionalism".[17][a]
In September 2025, the company reported its assets amounted to US$861,247,283.[11]
Mission and investments
1789 Capital describes itself as promoting "patriotic capitalism", investing in companies that are "anti-woke" and "America First".[12][18][19][b] Malik has stated that the firm is only interested in companies that represent "entrepreneurship, innovation and growth", or "EIG", which he says means companies that have "no ESG or DEI components in them whatsoever."[10] The company's other focuses include "deglobalization" (referring to companies that are moving their production to the US and pulling away from production in other countries),[c] and the creation of a "parellel economy" of conservative businesses, in what Malik has characterized as an effort to "depoliticize" investment.[12][20][21][22][23] Malik has also said that the firm "represent[s] the silent majority."[7][d]
1789 Capital has invested in Anduril Industries, which specializes in unmanned combat machinery, like this Anduril Ghost.
One goal of 1789 Capital is to create "a large, multi-strategy asset manager."[7] Its investments include:
1789 Capital invested in GrabAGun, an online firearms retailer which Malik has called "the Amazon of guns",[32] partly because the company aligns with 1789 Capital's values.[33] In an interview with IPO Edge, Malik said,[32]
... we select companies that really are cornerstones of that vision of the economy that we want to take public. The Second Amendment is why we were so interested in the GrabAGun transaction as it overtly tries to enhance and insulate the Second Amendment from what we viewed to be a tax on it. Whether as a result of certain elements of the federal government, regulations and general reluctancy to invest in the space, capital markets have largely shut out companies like GrabAGun.
ION Analytics reported that according to partner Paul Abrahimzadeh, 1789 Capital is investing in "late-stage technology companies", including energy companies.[45]
The firm does not invest in companies such as OpenAI that they deem not supportive enough of the Trump administration. On the topic, Donald Trump Jr. said, “I’ve turned down major deals where the ethoses don’t align [...] There are people who have become MAGA more recently — and I don’t know they actually believe.”[7]
On September 3, 2025, Bloomberg reported that 1789 Capital had "lined up about $1 billion in initial investor interest" for a new fund that would be used to purchase properties in South Florida, and especially in Palm Beach and Boca Raton, in partnership with a real estate company called the Frisbie Group.[15][46]
Members and backers
Donald Trump Jr. in December 2024, a few weeks after joining 1789 CapitalChris Buskirk in 2020
The firm was founded by Chris Buskirk, Omeed Malik, and Rebekah Mercer. Malik serves as president. Buskirk is listed as CIO. Jordan Cohen is listed as partner and COO. Other partners include Paul Abrahimzadeh,[47] Andy Nasser, Donald Trump Jr., and Joe Voboril.[48]
Venture capitalist Blake Masters was previously listed as a member of the Board of Advisors,[49][50] but has since been removed from the website.[48]
Multiple media outlets, financial figures, government watchdogs, ethics experts, and Democrats have criticized 1789 Capital for its ties to the Trump administration.[15][23]
Business Insider compared Donald Trump Jr. to Hunter Biden, saying that Trump Jr.'s business dealings–including his involvement in 1789 Capital–resembles the unethical financial schemes that Hunter Biden was accused of pursuing during his father's presidency.[14][e] Trump Jr. rebuked the comparison in a post on X, calling Hunter Biden a "felon crackhead" and saying that unlike Hunter Biden, he was a businessman before his father's presidency, and that his investments had "nothing to do with government".[15][51][52] Trump Jr. has repeated this claim when questioned about conflicts of interest.[23] Journalists with Reuters and The Daily Beast have disputed Trump Jr.'s claim that he is not profiting off of his father's presidency; The Daily Beast's reporter argued that under Trump Jr. the firm has expanded significantly, and has diverted from its goal of "anti-wokeness" to invest in defense companies which have then received government contracts under the Trump administration.[53]Bloomberg and Reuters have also reported that 1789 Capital has invested in multiple companies which received government contracts around the time that the firm invested in them.[34]
"The timeline here tells an interesting story. Polymarket had been under investigation by both the CFTC and the Department of Justice for potentially violating its 2022 settlement with the CFTC, which prohibited it from offering binary options to U.S. users. That investigation was reportedly serious enough for the FBI to raid the home of Polymarket's CEO and seize his phone and electronics. Yet in mid-July, after a change in administration, both agencies closed their investigations."
One veteran Wall Street investor, who has personally reviewed 1789's deals, says they enable the president's son to profit from the administration's actions, even if no contractors are given preferential treatment. "It's a way for Mar-A-Lago to get paid," says the investor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Trump administration.
The Revolving Door Project[f] (RDP) has also raised concerns about 1789 Capital. They have highlighted some of the company's operations in their weekly "Corruption Calendar" newsletter alongside other controversies related to the Trump Administration, such as Donald Trump's cryptocurrency, Trump's acceptance of a jet gifted to him by the Qatari Royal Family during his May 2025 visit to the Middle East,[54] Omeed Malik's appointment to the board of Fannie Mae,[55] the Trump administration's choices of which federal employees to hire or terminate, and what the RDP calls "conflicts of interest" around DOGE and Elon Musk's involvement with the government.[54][g]
I want to make clear that this is a problem, and it’s a problem that impacts the whole of government, but there is no modern or historical comparison for what Don Jr. and the President are doing. [...] The rules themselves aren’t designed, unfortunately, to force the adult children of government officials to report their financial entanglements. But Don Jr. and President Trump continue to make the case for why maybe they should.
There was some controversy around the firm's investment in Polymarket (and Trump Jr. joining the board of the company) because the investment was announced within months of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) dropping their investigation into the firm and subsequently un-banning them from doing business in the United States.[35][57] Better Markets president Dennis Kelleher said that Polymarket seemed to be using "a backdoor approach to become a regulated exchange." He wrote a letter to the CFTC, questioning the circumstances of Polymarket's authorization:[57]
"The timeline here tells an interesting story. Polymarket had been under investigation by both the CFTC and the Department of Justice for potentially violating its 2022 settlement with the CFTC, which prohibited it from offering binary options to U.S. users. That investigation was reportedly serious enough for the FBI to raid the home of Polymarket's CEO and seize his phone and electronics. Yet in mid-July, after a change in administration, both agencies closed their investigations."
According to the drone and technology news site DroneXL, Colby Goodman of Transparency International has said the following about 1789 Capital:[58]
There’s always these risks that [Trump Jr.] is going to have inside information or be able to access inside information from the U.S. government for a whole range of things. Just from the procurement side, he could know about upcoming bids, and the content of what that is, and help them win contracts with the U.S. government.
The Daily Kos, a left-wing media blog, commented sarcastically:[59]
It’s almost poetic, really. We used to call this kind of setup “crony capitalism.” But with 1789 Capital, we’re rebranding it as good ol’ American ingenuity. After all, this isn’t corruption; this is just how family values work! And if public policy ends up favoring [Donald Trump Jr.]'s investments, well, that’s just the free market in action, right?
Around August or September 2025, Rebecca Ballhaus of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) filed a broad FOIA request to the SEC, asking for "any records involving 1789 Capital, including any emails and text messages to or from 1789 Capital domains and any records that mention 1789 Capital."[18]John A. Jenkins of Law Street reported that this was remarkable because Ballhaus' work "focuses on politics and government and includes investigations into conflicts of interest across the federal government; harassment and abuse at federal agencies; and the role of high-dollar donors in politics."[18] Jenkins also said that "FOIA requests to the federal government can be an important early warning of bad publicity, litigation to come, or uncertainties to be hedged and gamed out", and that the request represents "a possible escalation of the tension between" Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch, who owns the WSJ and was sued by Trump earlier in the year for an article about the nature of the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.[18][60]
1 2 "Application by foreign limited liability company for authorization to transact business in Florida" (Document). Florida Division of Corporations. June 19, 2025.
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