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Biden Brings in $4 Million in Single Silicon Valley Event

Biden Brings in $4 Million in Single Silicon Valley Event

(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden held the biggest fundraiser for his campaign and associated Democratic groups so far on Thursday, bringing in $4 million from just 25 donors.

The virtual event was hosted by Climate Leaders for Biden, a group of environmental activists including former presidential candidate Tom Steyer and others with Silicon Valley ties. It was organized with the goal of raising more than any previous single Biden event, said Steyer spokesman Ben Gerdes.

“These are anxious times, to state the obvious, but it’s so appreciated what all of you are doing for the campaign,” Biden told the donors. “Folks, as they say, it’s go time. This is the most important election of our lifetime.”

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee spoke about the racial unrest in the country and promised that he’d would offer more climate policy, including proposals on environmental justice and “new concrete goals.”

Tickets started at $100,000 for Thursday’s event and went up to $360,600, with the first $5,600 going to the Biden campaign and the rest going to the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties that have made fundraising agreements with Biden and the DNC.

The group plans another Biden fundraiser on June 18. It’s already brought in $3.4 million for that event. One of its hosts, Nat Simons of Meritage Group, said the combined total “will grow.”

The other hosts of Thursday’s event were Nicole Systrom of Sutro Energy Group, Matt Rogers of Nest and Swati Mylavarapu of Incite Ventures Ltd. Mylavarapu was national investment chair for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign.

Reporters were allowed to listen to Biden speak for about 20 minutes but he moved into a “virtual ropeline” in which the donors could talk one-on-one with the candidate.

The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the event.

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