{"id":48549,"date":"2020-08-18T01:27:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T22:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/tech-startups-tied-to-joshua-kushner-received-millions-in-relief-funds\/"},"modified":"2020-08-18T01:27:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T22:27:00","slug":"tech-startups-tied-to-joshua-kushner-received-millions-in-relief-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/tech-startups-tied-to-joshua-kushner-received-millions-in-relief-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"#Tech startups tied to Joshua Kushner received millions in relief funds"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Tech startups tied to Joshua Kushner received millions in relief funds<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n A deep-pocketed venture-capital firm run by Jared Kushner\u2019s brother watched some of its tech startups rake in millions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief loans \u2014 despite the fact that it urged them not to take the cash, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Five tech firms backed by Thrive Capital \u2014 whose 35-year-old, Harvard-educated founder Joshua Kushner is married to supermodel Karlie Kloss, and who runs the firm out of the landmark Puck Building in Manhattan\u2019s trendy SoHo neighborhood \u2014 have snagged at least $2.8 million from the Trump administration\u2019s Paycheck Protection Program, federal data show.<\/p>\n

Among them are payments processor Dwolla, which has raised more than $51 million in private funding, including a $16.5 million round that Thrive backed in 2013; and Welkin Health, a software startup that\u2019s received $29 million from private investors, including $1.5 million in seed funding and two other investments from Thrive. Dwolla and Welkin each snagged loans worth between $1 million and $2 million in April, according to federal records.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s despite the fact that Thrive \u2014 whose other investments include Oscar Health, ClassPass, Instacart and Robinhood \u2014 strongly warned against taking PPP funds in an April 7 email to portfolio companies that asked for advice about the loans. Among other concerns, Thrive executives warned that well-heeled startups could crowd out mom-and-pop businesses in danger of folding during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PPP loans are intended, first and foremost, for the smallest, most vulnerable businesses in our communities \u2014 the corner deli, bakery, or dry cleaner that has had to or will soon lay off its entire workforce and is on the precipice of going out of business entirely,\u201d Thrive wrote in the email obtained by The Post. \u201cThese loans are less obviously for the startup with a host of institutional investors and several years of cash in the bank, looking to extend runway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thrive executives likewise warned in the letter about \u201ca potential backlash against those venture-backed companies who are genuinely struggling \u2026 Indeed, we are already seeing hints of this backlash in recent media<\/a> reports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three days earlier, a partner at Union Square Ventures had published a blog post advising venture-backed firms \u201cwith a lot of money in the bank and limited COVID19 impact to think twice about app<\/a>lying for PPP.\u201d<\/p>\n

A source close to Thrive said companies that took PPP money represent less than 1 percent of the firm\u2019s investments so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stand by the opinion we gave to our portfolio companies who reached out that PPP loans were intended first and foremost for the smallest, most vulnerable businesses in our communities,\u201d Thrive spokesman Jesse Derris told The Post.<\/p>\n

Dwolla, however, never got Thrive\u2019s letter because it never asked for the firm\u2019s advice on PPP to begin with, Thrive said. Ditto for Imbellus, a standardized test developer that won at least $350,000; and Long Game<\/a> Savings, a personal finance app that was approved for at least $150,000, federal data show.<\/p>\n

Dwolla and Imbellus didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment. But San Francisco-based Long Game confirmed it did not consult Thrive on its loan application because the fund does not sit on its board.<\/p>\n

Welkin Health, meanwhile, was among the recipients of Thrive\u2019s letter. It nevertheless cashed in on its $1 million-plus PPP loan a few weeks later in late April. Thrive said it also warned Morty, an online mortgage marketplace that got Thrive funding in 2017 and 2019 but went on to grab a PPP loan worth $350,000 to $1 million, according to Small Business Administration data.<\/p>\n

Welkin didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment. But Morty said it \u201ccarefully reviewed\u201d the program\u2019s guidelines and intent before applying for the money. The loan \u201callowed us to continue providing home ownership solutions to Americans during this challenging time,\u201d a Morty spokesperson told The Post.<\/p>\n

Critics say the feds made it too easy for venture-backed firms to take advantage of a $659 billion relief program that failed to reach many Main Street merchants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program wasn\u2019t there to benefit entities that had access to other capital,\u201d Liz Hempowicz, director of public policy at the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, told The Post. \u201cThe well-banked, the well-lawyered and the politically well-connected did benefit from this program in a way that absolutely undermined the effectiveness of this program for those smaller businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government watchdog group Accountable.US claimed that the fact that the startups snagged funds showed that the Trump administration managed to \u201cpervert a program meant for struggling small businesses into another vehicle for enriching the wealthy and well-connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting Joshua Kushner\u2019s family ties, the handouts to startups \u201cjust happened to work to the benefit of people connected to the White House in more ways than one,\u201d Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig told The Post.<\/p>\n

Still, the Kushner-led venture firm\u2019s correspondence with its startups shows it was concerned about the fallout early in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those companies that are truly struggling and remain intent on pursuing a PPP loan, we would ask that you reach out to us directly,\u201d Thrive executives wrote. \u201c Please know that now more than ever, we are here to help you and your teams in any way we can.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Tech startups tied to Joshua Kushner received millions in relief funds” A deep-pocketed venture-capital firm run by Jared Kushner\u2019s brother watched some of its tech startups rake in millions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief loans \u2014 despite the fact that it urged them not to take the cash, The Post has learned. Five tech…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[54754],"class_list":["post-48549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-tech-startups-tied-to-joshua-kushner-received-millions-in-relief-funds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}