Lina Khan is a Rorschach test for techies. For some, she is a boogeyman—an adversary of innovation and an impediment to acquisitions due to her antitrust concerns. And for others, she’s a champion for so-called “Little Tech” and a scourge to the monopolists stifling progress.
That’s to say, her inevitable departure as chair of the Federal Trade Commission under the new Trump administration won’t be universally celebrated across tech. The same is true for any new regulatory reality that will come with the transition, regardless of what the recently jubilant investors might say after Donald Trump’s election victory.
I caught up with Bradley Tusk, a regulation whisperer for VCs, famous for his work on early public affairs campaigns for Uber. Today, Tusk is the CEO and cofounder of his own venture firm, which has invested in companies often skirting legal fine lines such as crypto issuer Ripple, betting site FanDuel, and scooter and bike service Bird.
The prevailing wisdom is that Trump will usher in a new era of deregulation, with an even more hands-off approach than his previous term. And don’t forget this year’s all-important Supreme Court decision that struck down the longstanding Chevron doctrine, meaning that federal agencies will have less autonomy when it comes to rulemaking.
The sea change with crypto is a sign of what’s to come: Trump’s SEC chair, Jay Clayton, was certainly no fan of digital assets, bringing the damaging—and still ongoing—lawsuit against Ripple for allegedly issuing unregistered securities during his last days in office. As I wrote about last week, Trump has since embraced blockchain, and will likely appoint a more crypto-friendly face at the SEC. Names thrown around include former CFTC commissioner Christopher Giancarlo, who proudly displays his nickname of “CryptoDad” on his website, and Robinhood’s chief legal officer Dan Gallagher.
“Just getting a regulator who is not instinctively anti-crypto and anti-fintech at the SEC will be really, really meaningful,” Tusk told me, “independent of what the actual regulations become.”
But outside of crypto, what will tech regulation under Trump look like? Khan’s legacy is an obvious question mark. Sure, with her antitrust lawsuits against Big Tech, she put a chill on the M&A market. And after her presumed departure, that market may heat up, allowing more startups to be acquired.
But, as Tusk put it, are there tangible examples of any deals she blocked that actually hurt VC portfolios? He said he couldn’t think of any. “You’re kind of making her a scapegoat, but the reality is, her going after a giant industry or monopoly has nothing to do with private company exits,” Tusk told me.
Even with Vice President-elect JD Vance—and other Republicans like Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley—supporting her antitrust campaign, the next FTC chair and Justice Department is unlikely to pursue the same bruising approach. Just look at the speed at which the big tech CEOs, from Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg to Apple’s Tim Cook, have lined up to kiss Trump’s ring. “When you have a reputation for being totally susceptible to flattery, then people understand that they should flatter you,” Tusk said.
Besides other areas where Trump could have an impact, from autonomous vehicles to digital health supervision, the more intriguing question is whether federal supervision matters that much. As we witnessed the past couple of years with crypto, when there is gridlock at the federal level, states often step in, such as New York implementing its own stablecoin framework as Congress dragged its feet. According to Tusk, the state and municipal level is where the “vast majority” of tech regulation happens. And the result is often just a confusing patchwork of state laws.
That’s likely where the battles over technology oversight, from AI to content moderation, are likely to occur over the next four years. “When we’re in a world of a perceived completely dysfunctional Washington, D.C., some states tend to be the ones to step into the void,” Tusk said.
Leo Schwartz
Twitter: @leomschwartz
Email: leo.schwartz@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS
- Parker, a New York City-based e-commerce financial platform, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Valar Ventures led the round and was joined by Y Combinator.
- UnifyApps, a New York City-based enterprise AI agent developer, raised $20 million in Series A funding. ICONIQ Growth led the round and was joined by existing investor Elevation Capital and others.
- AdipoPharma, a Strasbourg, France-based Type 2 diabetes drug developer, raised €9 million ($9.7 million) in funding from Newton Biocapital, Sambrinvest, Investsud, and others.
- Panjaya, a San Francisco-based AI video translation platform developer, raised $9.5 million in funding from Viola Ventures, R-Squared Ventures, and angel investors.
- Pharos, a Road Town, British Virgin Islands-based full-stack parallel blockchain, raised $8 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC led the round and were joined by SNZ Capital, Reforge, Dispersion Capital, and others.
- Conflixis, a Dallas-based healthcare data and risk software platform, raised $4.2 million in seed funding. Lerer Hippeau and Origin Ventures led the round and were joined by mark vc, Springtime Ventures, and existing investor Crētiv Capital.
- Connecty AI, a San Francisco-based enterprise data agents developer, raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding. Market One Capital led the round and was joined by Notion Capital and others.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- ARCHIMED acquired SeqCenter, a Pittsburgh-based genetic sequencing provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Centana Growth Partners acquired a majority stake in First Connect Insurance Services, a Palo Alto-Calif.-based insurtech platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Marlin Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in Radar Healthcare, a Leeds, England-based risk, quality, and compliance software provider for the healthcare and social care sectors. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- VOSAIO Travel Group, backed by BGF, acquired Operation Europe, a London-based special-interest group tours company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- Tessenderlo Kerley acquired Tiger-Sul Products, a Shelton, Conn.-based sulfur-based fertilizer products provider, from Platte River Equity. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- The Hershey Company acquired Sour Strips, a Stafford, Tex.-based sour candy brand. Financial terms were not disclosed.
IPOS
- Navios South American Logistics, a Montevideo, Uruguay-based transportation and storage solutions provider, withdrew its plans to go public on the Nasdaq.
