Joshua Kushner

Joshua Kushner (born June 12, 1985) is an American businessman, heir and investor. He is the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, co-founder of Oscar Health, and the son of billionaire real estate magnate Charles Kushner. His brother is Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and former senior advisor to former U.S. President Donald Trump. He is a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Early life.
Kushner grew up in a Jewish family in Livingston, New Jersey. Several years after his father donated $2.5 million to Harvard he was accepted and graduated in 2008, and graduated from Harvard Business School in 2011.
Career.
Early career.
During his sophomore year, Kushner was founding executive editor of "Scene", a new Brooks Brothers-sponsored student-publication that aimed to be "Harvard's version of "Vogue" and "Vanity Fair"". According to "The Harvard Crimson", "Scene" "faced blistering criticism upon its release", with students going so far as creating a ""Scene" Magazine is Bullshit" Facebook group criticizing it for its "completely ludicrous ... skewed portrayal of the Harvard community" and "lack of models who were minorities".
In the spring of his junior year, with two graduate students he pooled $10,000 to found social network Vostu, which aimed to "fill a void left by online communities in which English is the lingua franca", like Facebook. According to Kushner, Latin America was a promising market for a Facebook-alternative and new social networking site because "[it was] a place where Internet use is increasing every year, and technology is booming at a rapid pace". Vostu laid off the majority of its employees in 2013 and significantly scaled back its operations.
The year after graduation, he also co-founded a start-up called Unithrive, with the cousin of the president of Kiva who was also a Harvard student. Unithrive was inspired by the peer-to-peer loan model of Kiva, but aimed to "ease the crisis in paying for college" by matching "alumni lenders to cash-strapped students ... who [could] post photographs and biographical information and request up to $2,000", interest-free for repayment within five years of graduation. After graduating from Harvard, he started his career in the Private Equity Group at Goldman Sachs, in the Merchant Banking Division, but left after a short stint.
Thrive Capital.
He founded Thrive Capital in 2009, his private equity and venture capital firm that focuses on media and internet investments. Since its founding, Thrive has raised $750 million from institutional investors, including Princeton University. Thrive has raised several capital funds, including Thrive II, which raised $40 million in 2011, Thrive III, which raised $150 million in 2012, and Thrive IV, which raised $400 million in September 2014.
As an investor in Instagram, Kushner was the second largest investor in Instagram's Series B fundraising round. Valued at $500 million, Thrive soon doubled its money after Instagram was sold to Facebook.
For his work with Thrive, Kushner was named to "Forbes" 30 Under 30, Inc. Magazine's 35 Under 35, Crain's 40 Under 40, and Vanity Fair's Next Establishment.
In 2021 it was reported by "Bloomberg" that Goldman Sachs had invested in Kushner's Thrive Capital at a $3.6 billion valuation.
Oscar.
Kushner is a co-founder of Oscar Health, a health insurance start-up. Founded in 2012, Oscar was valued at $2.7 billion in 2016. During calendar year 2020 Oscar's net income was -$400 million. Oscar went public in 2021 with Kushner's Thrive Capital owning a stake worth $1.14 billion. Oscar has struggled since its IPO, falling over 50% from its IPO price.
In 2020 it was revealed by "The Atlantic" that Jared Kushner had contracted Oscar Health to develop a coronavirus testing website that was later scraped even though Jared had said publicly that Google was developing the website.
Cadre.
In 2015, Kushner founded a new company called Cadre with his brother Jared and their friend Ryan Williams, with Williams as Cadre's CEO. Cadre is a technology platform designed to help certain types of client, such as family offices and endowments, invest in real estate.
JK2.
Kushner owns 50% of JK2 (also known as Westminster Management), a real estate management company, his brother Jared owns the other 50%. In April 2021, A Judge ruled that JK2 was found to be have committed "widespread and numerous" violations Maryland’s consumer protection laws at Baltimore-area properties by collecting debts without the required licenses, charging tenants improper fees, and misrepresenting the condition of rental units.
Kushner's JK2 was also featured in an episode of Netflix's Dirty Money series titled "Slumlord Millionaire." The episode was based on an expose from ProPublica accusing the company of abusing tenants rights, leaving homes in disrepair, humiliating late-paying renters and suing mostly poor immigrants to garnish their wages.
Personal life.
Kushner started dating model Karlie Kloss in 2012. The couple got engaged in July 2018, and were married on October 18, 2018. The couple had their first child in 2021.
He is the brother of Donald Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.