Republicans launching innovation fund to match Democrats
Republicans are launching an innovation fund that will funnel cash into digital startups, a move designed to boost the party’s online infrastructure and help combat a liberal tech resurgence.
Startup Caucus, which is billing itself as a Republican venture capital effort, will announce on Tuesday that it will give $25,000 in seed funding to six early stage tech companies. It also plans to provide the startups with a 12-week training and support program.
The fund is intended to provide Republicans with an answer to Higher Ground Labs, a Democratic tech incubator that has helped bankroll a wave of liberal startups. Higher Ground Labs, whose financial backers include LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, supplied more than $5 million in seed funding during the 2018 midterms and recently announced plans to invest more than $10 million during the 2020 campaign.
Eric Wilson, Startup Caucus’ managing partner and a veteran GOP digital strategist, has been giving to would-be investors presentations in which he has outlined the urgency.
“Obviously the Democrats are spending very heavily on this, and so its essential that Republicans narrow the gap with investment, training, and innovation,” Wilson said.
Wilson said he decided to form Startup Caucus after working on Ed Gillespie’s unsuccessful 2017 Virginia gubernatorial campaign. As he examined the results, Wilson zeroed in on historically conservative Chesterfield County, which backed a Democratic gubernatorial candidate for the first time in 56 years. He came to the realization that Higher Ground Labs, which is spearheaded by onetime aides to former President Barack Obama, funded tech companies that played a key role in helping Democrats turn the county blue.
Wilson, who was a top aide on Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential bid, has spent much of the past two years on the project. He has assembled a 24-person advisory network that will be chaired by Pete Snyder, a Virginia-based angel investor who waged a 2013 campaign for lieutenant governor.
Startup Caucus is particularly focused on providing funding for companies that are helping congressional and state-level candidates. It has made its first investment in Numinar, which describes itself as “the first software platform bringing cutting-edge voter file management and data analysis to political campaigns of all sizes.”
“There aren’t enough people focusing on the down-ballot side of things,” Wilson said.