Greenland Inc.? The Tech Billionaires Behind Trump’s Arctic Obsession

What Happened

According to Forbes, the three billionaires have been investing in KoBold Metals since 2019, shortly after Trump first expressed interest in acquiring Greenland. The investments were made through Breakthrough Energy, a fund led by Gates.

In 2022, OpenAI founder Sam Altman joined as an investor through his venture capital firm, Apollo Projects. Other reports indicate that the company has also attracted backing from Mark Zuckerberg and the hedge fund Andreessen Horowitz.

Praxis has publicly explored Greenland as a potential site and raised more than $525 million to develop a new city built around reduced regulation and tokenized real-world assets, positioning the island as a frontier for crypto-enabled urban development.

Which Investors Have Direct Policy Influence?

As reported by The New Republic, the investors behind this company have a significant overlap with those behind Trump Media. Many of those same figures poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Trump’s latest presidential bid.

Market Context

Private Capital’s Arctic Ambitions

Why It Matters

Greenland’s vast territory, abundant mineral reserves, and small population make it an appealing gateway to critical resources for advanced industries. In this context, the prospect of a US takeover is hardly surprising. America’s tech billionaires were among the key financial backers of Trump’s 2024 campaign. Such support rarely comes without expectations.

Details

US President Donald Trump has framed Greenland as a national security priority. However, beneath this rhetoric, the push appears closely linked to the interests of the American technology sector.

Why Greenland Reentered Trump’s Focus

One of the first times Trump discussed Greenland was in August 2019, during his first presidency. During an interview with reporters, Trump confirmed that he was contemplating the idea, referring to it as “a large real estate deal.” However, at the time, he confirmed that the move wouldn’t be a top priority.

Fast forward six years, and Trump’s list of priorities has changed.

The events that have unfolded over the past few days shouldn’t come as a surprise. During Trump’s 2024 election campaign, Greenland kept popping up. Time and time again, Trump would refer to it as a missed opportunity.

Then, roughly a month before taking office, he called American “ownership and control” of Greenland “an absolute necessity.”

This fixation on the island didn’t emerge in a vacuum. Rather than being the originator of an idea, Trump appears more as a political vehicle for pre-existing tech ambitions.

Over the past decade, a mix of tech billionaires, venture funds, and speculative startups has quietly built positions around Greenland.

As the group’s ambitions matured, Trump emerged as the most willing vehicle to translate private technological desire into state-backed action.

Greenland’s most significant draw lies in its rare earth mineral reserves, which are critical to modern electronic devices. Since Trump’s first presidency, figures such as Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, and Jeff Bezos have shown sustained interest in the territory.

Beyond mining, Greenland has also attracted interest as a testing ground for crypto-native governance and financing models.

Peter Thiel, a longtime Trump ally, has backed Praxis. This startup, led by CEO Dryden Brown, aims to establish a so-called “network state.”

With Greenland back in the spotlight, extractive and experimental ventures are repositioning themselves for access.

In fact, that web of private interest is no longer confined to the sidelines. It now intersects directly with Trump’s governing circle.

The alignment between Greenland-focused commercial interests and Trump’s governing circle extends into the administration itself.

Certain individuals with ties to companies positioned to benefit from Greenland’s resources now hold roles that directly influence US policy.

Howard Lutnick, Trump’s commerce secretary, previously led Cantor Fitzgerald, whose associated hedge fund has backed Critical Metals Corp, a company pursuing mineral projects linked to Greenland.