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The billionaire founding father of e-commerce website eBay plowed cash into a non-public safety startup billed because the “Uber for bodyguards” — whereas additionally donating almost $2 million to teams that advocate de-funding or abolishing the police, in keeping with a report.
Pierre Omidyar, whose wealth is valued by Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $8.91 billion as of Friday, reportedly forked over $500,000 to organizations that protested the police-involved killing of George Floyd in 2020 via his charitable group, the Omidyar Network.
Two different organizations tied to the Omidyar Network — PolicyLink and Democracy Fund — acquired $1.3 million to sponsor an internet site referred to as DefundPolice.org, a software utilized by advocates to name for cuts to police budgets, according to independent journalist Lee Fang.
The Omidyar Network donated $300,000 to The Movement for Black Lives, a company that describes itself as an “abolitionist” coalition, reported Fang, who previous to changing into an unbiased journalist labored for years as a reporter for The Intercept, a information website based by Omidyar.
“When we are saying ‘defund and abolish the police,’ we imply precisely that,” the Movement for Black Lives wrote in a recent statement.
Fang cited tax information displaying that Omidyar Network gave one other $100,000 to a Chicago-based group referred to as Equity and Transformation, which flies the banner of “defund[ing] police.”
But as a non-public investor, Omidyar has poured his appreciable wealth into start-ups such as Bond, a New York-based firm that enables individuals to order a bodyguard on demand, Fang wrote.
The Post has sought remark from the Omidyar Network.
Founded in 2017, the company raised $72 million in funding, including investments from Omidyar. Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly is an advisor to the Bond board.
“With the Bond platform, bodyguards are now not only for celebrities and executives,” in keeping with the corporate’s web site.
“Now you’ll be able to reserve reasonably priced, highly-trained, {and professional} bodyguards everytime you want them, on-demand by way of the Bond platform and app.”
Omidyar’s funding portfolio additionally features a stake in Deep Sentinel, an AI-powered safety digicam system that’s used to establish intruders, in keeping with Fang.
Both the Bond app and Deep Sentinel have used the nationwide surge in crime — a lot of it attributed to the Defund the Police motion — to supply their merchandise as alternate options.
Kelly informed Fox News that “the police sadly have taken a step again” in recent times and that Bond “fills within the hole whenever you really feel considerably uncomfortable.”
Deep Sentinel just lately informed Fox News that its enterprise has “tripled” within the final 12 months resulting from considerations over rising crime.
