Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intel, OpenGov. One of these things is not like the others. In fact, one of these things is about 4,000 times smaller than the others. But they all had front row seats at the White House tech roundtable.
How did a start up like OpenGov end up shoving aside companies much, much larger? They have a special friend.
Mr. Kushner’s brother, through a venture-capital firm, is a part owner of OpenGov, according to government disclosures and data from Dow Jones VentureSource. Until earlier this year, Mr. Kushner owned stakes in the venture-capital firm that he sold to his brother, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Kushner’s connection to OpenGov isn’t widely known.
The crony capitalism on display in literally giving his company a seat at the big table, while larger companies were shut out, might seem fairly minor. But, as the name OpenGov suggests, there’s more at play here than just letting a friend bump elbows with tech giants.
Scoring a seat at the summit was a milestone for OpenGov, a Redwood City, Calif. company that aims to make government data more user-friendly and has sought business with the federal government, according to its website. OpenGov’s clients are mostly state and local governments—such as Converse County, Wyo. and California Polytechnic State University—looking to upgrade their technology.
OpenGov sells their services to governments, including agencies of the federal government. But of course, they compete for these contracts with many other companies. Companies that don’t have someone to pick them up and give them a front row seat.
Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said the OpenGov situation raised ethics issues. “This seems like a textbook example of cronyism in action,” she said.