Joshua Kushner is his familys first billionaire not Jared: how Karlie Kloss husband and Iv

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Thriving investments

Kushner was just 24 years old when he founded his venture capital firm Thrive Capital in 2009. In 2022, Thrive was reported to have US$16 billion in assets under management, according to TechCrunch. Thrive was an early investor in companies including Instagram (worth US$100 billion), Kickstarter (valued at up to US$50 billion) and ClassPass (US$1 billion).

Just two years after launch, Kushner had already raised US$40 million from investors, including Princeton University and venture capitalist Peter Thiel – known for investments in tech companies including Facebook and for supporting Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. But that year, a Thrive representative told Esquire that “Josh is a lifelong Democrat and will not be voting for Donald Trump in November”.

Avoiding politics?

When it comes to politics, Kushner distances himself from his Republican family members … to an extent. He attended the Women’s March in Washington DC on the weekend of Trump’s inauguration but, as many protested against derogatory comments Trump had made about women, he shared a photograph of himself and his brother Jared at the White House that same weekend.

“It is no secret that liberal values have guided my life and that I have supported political leaders that share similar values,” Kushner told Forbes. “But neither political party has a monopoly on the truth or on constructive ideas for our country. It’s important to be open-minded and learn from differing opinions.”

He also went as far as having one-on-one meetings with nearly 100 employees at Thrive and two start-ups he was incubating to explain his stance and reassure them, Forbes reported.

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“Josh went around to me and presumably every company and said, ‘I have no personal ties to this administration – I’m not responsible for their actions and won’t be able to get you special favours’,” Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield told Forbes. “‘Just consider me the same person who invested in your company. There is no connection, either good or bad’.” In 2022, Slack is valued at US$27.7 billion.

Thrive – which also invested in Robinhood and Spotify – was an early investor in Kim Kardashian’s Skims shapewear and put US$240 million into a recent round. Kardashian herself worked with the Trump admin on social justice reform. Skims was valued at US$3.2 billion in 2022.

A health insurance start-up

Kushner’s health insurance start-up Oscar Health, which aims to use tech to provide a more consumer-friendly option, was valued at US$2.7 billion before Trump was elected in 2016. Oscar Health relied on Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act’s health insurance model to operate, but when Trump slashed funding for Obamacare advertising, Kushner responded by stepping up ad campaigns in New York and collaborating with the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

In March 2021, Oscar Health went public on the New York Stock Exchange at a valuation of US$7.3 billion but a year later that dropped to US$1.7 billion. Thrive holds a 20 per cent stake in the company. Oscar was last publicly valued at US$3.2 billion.

In the boardroom

In his early career, Kushner turned down a job in the family business – his father Charles Kushner ran property company Kushner Companies, until he went to prison for two years and Jared took over. But the family still does business together and Kushner has a stake in the company. In 2014, Joshua and Jared also co-founded property crowdfunding start-up Cadre along with Ryan Williams, who is now the company’s CEO.

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The company aims to connect property owners with investors. Kushner – who invested via Thrive Capital – doesn’t have an operational role in Cadre, but is a board member. He’s also on the board of five other companies.

Jared’s operational role ceased when he joined the Trump administration but he was criticised in 2021 for failing to declare his stake in Cadre in government financial disclosure forms. Cadre was valued at US$800 million in 2021.

Joshua Kushner’s other ventures

Kushner has a widespread portfolio of investments – just months after he married supermodel Karlie Kloss (worth US$40 million), Kushner acquired a 2.5 per cent US$30 million stake in the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies team in 2019. Kushner – who has been a lifelong fan of the Tennessee team – has personally invested in 35 brands, according to Crunchbase.

Kushner and Kloss also own a US$42.5 million penthouse in New York City – they bought the flat inside a building owned by Kushner’s family. In December 2020, it was revealed they had bought a US$23.5 million estate in Miami, Florida, nearby Jared and Ivanka Trump.

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