DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Before politics, JD Vance had a career in venture capital. Here are the startups he's invested in.
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-16 | by ( Madeline Berg | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

JD Vance is a man of many careers: attorney, author, senator, vice president-elect, and, perhaps less well-known, venture capitalist. For about six years between graduating from law school and becoming a United States senator from Ohio, Vance held various positions in the space before eventually starting his own fund, Narya Capital. Vance co-founded Narya Capital in 2019After two years, Vance broke out on his own, cofounding Narya Capital in 2019 with investments from Thiel, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and VC veteran Marc Andreessen. According to his vice president and senate disclosure forms, he has a stake in Narya Capital Fund I, Narya Capital Fund II, and Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. AdvertisementHis stake in Narya Capital Fund I is worth between $500,001 and $1 million.

Persons: JD Vance, Vance, doesn't, Peter Thiel's, Steve Case's, Boston —, Thiel, Eric Schmidt, Marc Andreessen, Narya, Vivek Ramaswamy's, Nayra, Luke Schroeder Organizations: United, Narya, Mithril, Narya Capital, cofounding, II, Narya's Capital, US Space Force Locations: United States, Ohio, New York, Silicon Valley, Boston, Narya, ValueBase, PitchBook

That’s why, he said, he invested in AppHarvest, a startup that promised a high-tech future for farming and for the workers of Eastern Kentucky. Despite promising local jobs, the company eventually began contracting migrant workers from Mexico, Guatemala and other countries, numerous former employees told CNN. After about a week on the job, Vance took a meeting with AppHarvest founder Jonathan Webb, as Webb later recounted in a Fox News podcast interview. The company’s health care benefits attracted Morgan, a single father, who told CNN he took a pay cut to join the startup. Such comments ring hollow to some former AppHarvest workers, who argue Vance’s rhetoric as a candidate for vice president doesn’t align with the reality they experienced.

Persons: JD Vance, Vance, “ It’s, it’s, ” Vance, AppHarvest, Donald Trump’s, Kentuckians Vance, weren’t, ”, Anthony Morgan, “, Luke Schroeder, AppHarvest’s, JD, Jonathan Webb, Webb, Peter Thiel’s, Thiel, Steve Case, Vance “, Morgan, ” Morgan, ’ ” Anthony Morgan, Shelby Hester, Hester, ” Hester, Grist, Andrew Miller, David Attenborough, Bethany, Gary Broadbent, “ AppHarvest, Mitch McConnell, Hester’s, Mitch Smith, bigwigs, CNN AppHarvest, Martha Stewart, Broadbent, doesn’t Organizations: CNN, Fox, Republican, US Department of Labor, PayPal, AOL, Fox News, AppHarvest, Morehead State University, Workers, Kentucky’s Education, Labor Cabinet, Kentucky Center, Investigative, Kentucky Republican, Securities and Exchange Commission, Retirement Association, Senate, Republican National Convention Locations: AppHarvest, Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky, Mexico, Guatemala, Ohio, Silicon Valley, Morehead, Appalachia, gurneys, Plymouth, Massachusetts, Canada, ”

☆ Opinion | The Far Right Doesn’t Own ‘The Lord of the Rings’
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tolkien and “The Lord of the Rings.”These days, however, Tolkien isn’t just relevant to nerd world. Critical factions of the new right at home and the far right in Europe have latched on to Tolkien’s work. By “new right” I mean the post-Reagan right, a movement that embraces state power as a means of fighting and winning the culture war. But they’re getting Tolkien wrong, and the way in which they are getting Tolkien wrong matters for all of us. Last month, Politico’s Adam Wren wrote an extended analysis of the way that the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy shaped JD Vance.

Persons: Tolkien, Reagan, they’re, Politico’s Adam Wren, Vance, “, ” Vance, Peter Thiel, Nancy Organizations: “ Star, Anduril Industries Locations: Europe

☆ What JD Vance's rise tells us about the influence of Peter Thiel — and Silicon Valley in the age of Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-26 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Without Peter Thiel, Vance does not get anywhere near the US Senate. And in Silicon Valley, the conservative movement is much stronger, and more muscular than it was before. AdvertisementThere's this narrative, promoted by people like Thiel, that Silicon Valley is super-liberal. Because Silicon Valley has conservative roots in addition to roots in the counterculture. AdvertisementLike I said, the liberal nature of Silicon Valley has always been sort of overplayed.

Persons: —, I'm, Donald Trump, Vance, Peter Thiel —, Max Chafkin, who's, Thiel, Peter Thiel's, Trump, JD Vance, Narya, It's, supercharge, Bill Pugliano, David Sacks, Peter Thiel, revel, that's, he's, Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, They're, Elon Musk's, Apu Gomes, Steve Jobs, Ben Horowitz Organizations: Service, Republican, Trump, Business, Bloomberg Businessweek, Republican National Convention, YouTube, Ohio Senate, The, Thiel, Twitter Locations: Silicon Valley, Mithril, Narya, Ohio, West Coast, —, America, Silicon, San Francisco

☆ Retail trader demand for Rumble stock hits record after Trump picks Vance for VP nominee
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-18 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Republican nominee Donald Trump's choice of a former venture capitalist as his vice presidential nominee could be attracting retail traders to one of the companies JD Vance backed, according to JPMorgan. JPMorgan analyst Kamal Tamboli said in a note to clients Wednesday evening that retail traders are piling into Rumble , a YouTube competitor aimed at conservatives. "Retail traders appear to be closely following US election developments with demand for RUM reaching a quarterly record after the announcement of J.D. Vance as the Vice Presidential nominee for the Republican party," the note said. RUM 5D mountain Shares of this company linked to JD Vance are up 17% this week.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Vance, Kamal Tamboli, Rumble, Narya, JD Vance Organizations: JPMorgan, Republican, Narya Capital, Trump, Trump Media

☆ JD Vance tried to be a VC. He didn't do much, old colleagues said.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-16 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But his former colleagues previously told Business Insider in a 2021 report that his business expertise wasn't that noteworthy. AdvertisementVance's former coworkers previously told BI that Vance was away from his new job much at the time to promote his book. Trump's campaign also didn't respond to a request for comment about how Vance's old colleagues characterized his VC work. AdvertisementVance's time at Revolution did provide him the connections needed to go off and start his own VC firm, Narya Capital, in 2019. "There are a thousand red flags," Jeff Sohl, director of the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research, previously told BI.

Persons: —, Donald Trump's, JD Vance, Trump, Vance, Peter Thiel, didn't, weren't, Steven Case's, Narya, Jeff Sohl, Donald Trump Organizations: Service, Technology, Finance, Business, Mithril, BI, Narya, Politico, University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research Locations: Ohio, San Francisco

AdvertisementThe Thiel effectFor Vance, Thiel's influence first left its mark when he was still a student. Thiel also got a shoutout on the acknowledgments page of Vance's 2016 book, "Hillbilly Elegy." The former PayPal CEO has given $15 million to Vance's campaign, Politico reported — the largest donation ever given to one Senate candidate. AdvertisementOne of Trump's biggest donors in the 2016 presidential campaign, Thiel has re-emerged as a key player in the MAGA movement after largely sitting out the 2020 election. Thiel also appears to have pulled some of his Silicon Valley strings to advance Vance's campaign.

Persons: —, JD Vance, Peter Thiel, Vance, Donald Trump, Thiel, Palantir, Elon Musk, Thiel's, meaninglessness, Tolkien, Steve Case, Trumper, Win McNamee, MAGA, Trump, David Sacks, Musk, Sacks, Tucker Carlson, Nordin Catic, Mark Zuckerberg Organizations: Service, Republican National Convention, Republican, White, Business, PayPal, Trump, Bloomberg, Yale, Yale Law School, Thiel's, Mithril, Narya, Politico, Republican Party, Fox News, Cambridge University Union, Facebook, Palantir Technologies, Spotify Locations: Milwaukee, Ohio, Mithril, Mar, Cambridge, England, Airbnb

☆ Republican J.D. Vance defeats Democrat Tim Ryan in Ohio Senate race, NBC News projects
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

US Senate Republican candidate JD Vance speaks to attendees the stage at a rally held by former U.S. president Donald Trump in Youngstown, Ohio, September 17, 2022. Vance and Ryan were vying for the seat made vacant by retiring two-term Republican Sen. Ohio has shifted to be more reliably Republican in recent elections, voting for former President Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. Republican J.D. In the final weeks of the campaign, Ryan received little support from Democrats on the national level.

Search resuls for: "Narya"

8 mentions found