He made his X profile private after his post was criticised.
A venture capitalist has been fired from a US investment firm he cofounded after he made offensive remarks against Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war. Kenneth Ballenegger, a founding partner at San Francisco VC firm Oyster Ventures, wrote on X, “After the war, Israel should handle Gaza like China handles Xinjiang. Full surveillance state. Re-education camps. Sterilizations.It’s warranted and the only way to pacify the jihadi population.”
When his controversial opinion was questioned by a former colleague, he made another offensive statement in response. He wrote, ”They reproduce like rabbits and raise them to be terrorists, creating more poverty misery, and terrorism. Why should we allow that? The world would be a much better place if they didn’t reproduce.”
He made his X profile private after his post was criticised.
Here are the screenshots of the tweet:
this guy isn’t some random employee
he is your co-founder, it very much reflects the values of your company https://t.co/tMQnBX4fKTpic.twitter.com/RNYc8GuRN8
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) November 13, 2023
After several X users criticised his stance, Sophia Liao, Ballenegger’s fellow co-founding partner at Oyster issued a statement on X distancing the company from his remarks. She wrote, ”With the support of Oyster Ventures’ leadership team, we have since made a decision to remove Kenneth Ballenegger as a partner in the firm. This process will take time, but please be assured that Kenneth has been suspended immediately and these proceedings are underway. ”
See the post here:
— Oyster Ventures (@OysterVentures) November 14, 2023
Ms Liao continued, ”On a personal note, as someone who survived and grew up under China’s one-child policy, it’s awful to see such a callous comparison made between such complex political environments. This perspective makes Kenneth’s choice of words even more distressing to me.” I’ve reached out to him directly to explain this and his immediate removal from the firm.”
Notably, Oyster Ventures is headquartered in San Francisco. The company has invested in unicorn tech companies including e-commerce startup Bolt, online learning platform Masterclass, and gaming software company Conductive.AI, as per The Messenger.
Several companies around the world have fired employees over offensive remarks related to the Israel-Gaza war.