Why Peter Thiel won’t fund any of the 2024 presidential candidates 

He was a major donor to former President Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016 (and was appointed to Trump’s transition committee that same year). And last year, Thiel made $35.4 million in federal contributions—all to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets, making him among one of the 10 largest donors of 2022.

But now he’s taking a step back. In an interview with me, I asked him why. Here’s what he said:

Thiel, who has said little publicly of his plans until now, told Coins2Day in an interview that he will be “less involved” in the forthcoming presidential election, though he does intend to vote for the Republican candidate. And he confirmed for the first time an earlier report that, citing sources familiar with his thinking, he would not financially support any of the candidates.

Thiel said that while there were “a lot of different, complicated reasons” for his decision not to donate, he isn’t convinced that money matters at the presidential level. 

“They’ll get their message out or they will not get it out,” Thiel said. “They will convince people or they will not convince people. And an extra $1 million or $10 million does not make any difference.”

Following the interview, Thiel provided an additional statement to Coins2Day saying that he was “unpersuaded that this election will focus on the issue that matters most: ending our decades-long technological and economic stagnation.”

Thiel, who is known for cofounding PayPal and being Facebook’s earliest investor, wouldn’t specify which candidate he intends to vote for at this time. “I’ll vote for the Republican,” he said.

You can read the full story here.

In case you missed it…It’s only Wednesday and, well, it’s hard to keep up with everything going on. Here’s some of what I’ve been reading this week:

Is David Solomon Too Big a Jerk to Run Goldman Sachs?

Chamath Palihapitiya’s Venture Firm Offered to Sell Hundreds of Startup Stakes

Citadel Vets 69,000 Intern Applicants to Find Next Math Geniuses

TechCrunch acquires StrictlyVC, appoints Connie Loizos to lead

How Vivek Ramaswamy Made the Coins2Day Fueling His Presidential Run

And a shameless plug: Peter Thiel launched a student newspaper 36 years ago. It has since become one of the surest paths to success in Silicon Valley

See you tomorrow,

Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: [email protected]
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

- Redwood Materials, a Carson City, Nev.-based EV battery recycler, raised $1 billion in Series D funding. Goldman Sachs, Capricorn, and T.Rowe Price co-led the round.

- Apollo.io, a San Francisco-based go-to-market solution for sales and marketing teams, raised $100 million in Series D funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors Sequoia Capital, Tribe Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners.

- Rockset, a San Mateo, Calif.-based serverless search and analytics engine platform developer, raised $44 million in Series B funding. Icon Ventures led the round and was joined by Glynn Capital, Four Rivers, K5 Global, and existing investors Sequoia and Greylock. 

- AeroSafe Global, a Rochester, N.Y.-based cold chain solution provider, raised $43 million in funding. NewSpring led the round and was joined by existing investors Peloton Equity, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Hamilton Lane, and other investors.

- Ideogram AI, a Toronto-based text-to-image A.I. Generator, raised $16.5 million in seed funding. Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures co-led the round and were joined by AIX Ventures, Golden Ventures, and Two Small Fish Ventures.

- Voxel, a San Francisco-based computer vision and A.I. Company building developer tools to identify workplace hazards, raised $12 million in funding. Rite-Hite led the round and was joined by existing investors Eclipse Ventures and Mtech.

- Confirm, a San Francisco-based hiring and performance management platform developer, raised $6.2 million in Series A funding. Spero Ventures led the round and was joined by SHRMLabs, Elefund, Gaingels, Black Angel Group, and others. 

- MFast, a Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam-based financial services network, raised $6 million in Series A funding. Wavemaker Partners led the round and was joined by Krungsri Innovate, Headline Asia, and others. 

- Markato, a Hong Kong-based independent brand marketplace, raised $5 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round. 

- Modern Adventure, a Portland, Ore.-based travel company, raised $4.8 million in Series A funding. Seal Rock Partners, Natty Zola, and Nate Abbott joined the round. 

- TeamSense, a Mukilteo, Wash.-based platform connecting hourly employees and their companies, raised $4 million in seed funding. Bonfire Ventures led the round and was joined by Operator Collective. 

- FirstMate, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based NFT marketplace platform for creators, raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Dragonfly led the round and was joined by Coinbase Ventures and NextView Ventures.

- Starcart, a Helsinki, Finland-based online shopping platform, raised €3.5 million ($3.8 million) in seed funding. Inventure led the round and was joined by Business Finland.

- Occuspace, a Westlake Village, Calif.-based crowd monitoring technology developer, raised $3.6 million in seed funding. Okapi Venture Capital led the round and was joined by Cove Fund, Shadow Ventures, and Hamilton Ventures. 

PRIVATE EQUITY

- L Catterton agreed to acquire Thorne HealthTech, a New York City-based provider of health tests and supplements, for $680 million.

- Avalon, backed by Surge Private Equity, acquired Tower Legal Solutions, a New York City-based legal staffing provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Discovery Education, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, agreed to acquire DreamBox Learning, a Bellevue, Wash.-based education technology provider. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- Marcura, a portfolio company of Marlin Equity Partners, acquired ShipServ, a London, U.K.-based maritime software procurement platform and marketplace. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- Nelson Miller Group, a portfolio company of New Water Capital, acquired Injection Works, a Mount laurel, N.J.-based provider of plastic components and assemblies for medical, industrial, and electrical-end industries. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Reveal, a portfolio company of K1 Investment Management, acquired Logikcull, a San Francisco-based legal software developer, and IPRO, a Tempe, Ariz.-based data assessment and trial preparation software developer. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- SK Capital Partners acquired Isolatek International, a Stanhope, N.J.-based manufacturer and supplier of passive fireproofing technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Visterra Landscape Group, a portfolio company of Trinity Hunt Partners, acquired Oberson’s Nursery and Landscapes, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based outdoor solutions provider and Dyna-Mist, a Wylie, Tex.-based landscaping company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- UST, backed by Temasek Holdings, acquired MobileComm, a Dallas, Tex.-based telecommunications engineering firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- WestView Capital Partners acquired a minority stake in Hubstaff, a Fishers, Ind.-based workforce management SaaS platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- 360Pack, a Shore Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired Team Packaging, a Denver-based custom packaging solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

- e.l.f Beauty agreed to acquire Naturium, a Los Angeles-based skincare brand, for $355 million.

- Trustly acquired SlimPay, a French recurring payments platform for €70 million ($75.7 million), people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.