(Bloomberg) -- Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist known for investments in startups as varied as Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Theranos, said he’s made donations to the US presidential campaigns of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
“Wanted to clear something up,” Draper wrote on LinkedIn. The donations to both camps, in “roughly equal amounts,” gave him and his wife the opportunity to meet both candidates “and make a more informed decision,” he added.
Draper, who founded VC firm Draper Associates in 1985, said “both candidates have their hearts in the right place, and while they would set different paths for America, I am optimistic that either path will be a positive step.”
According to filings, Draper gave almost $1 million to Harris last month. Previously, he supported former UN ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican primary.
Another prominent VC who’s hedging presidential bets is Andreessen Horowitz general partner Ben Horowitz, who donated $2.5 million to a pro-Trump super political action committee. Horowitz this month also told his firm that he planned to make a “significant” donation to the campaign of Harris, currently the US Vice President.
Questions over which candidate would make a better president have created divisions in the tech industry. SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, for example, have thrown their weight behind Trump and voiced withering criticism of Harris. Some of the VCs who support Harris include Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
--With assistance from Sarah McBride.
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