Trump’s digital media venture says it has lined up $1 billion from investors for his forthcoming social media platform, TRUTH Social

• Donald Trump’s new media venture and its SPAC partner says they have $1 billion in capital pledged by institutional investors.
• The funding will support his forthcoming social media site, TRUTH Social, slated to launch in 2022. 
• “America is ready for TRUTH Social, a platform that will not discriminate on the basis of political ideology,” Trump said in a statement. 

Former President Donald Trump’s forthcoming digital media platform and its SPAC partner says they have entered into subscription agreements to raise an estimated $1 billion from investors. 

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (TMTG) and Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), a special purpose acquisition company, announced on Saturday that the two companies reached a deal to fund Trump’s new social media website, TRUTH Social. TMTG has formerly described aspirations for the site and accompanying app to serve as “a conservative media universe” with “non-woke content.” 

The deal — which sources first told Reuters was in progress earlier this week — will provide estimated proceeds of $1.25 billion to TRUTH Social, according to a press release. While the identity of the investors remains unknown, the funding will function as “PIPE” investments, or private investments in public equity.

Trump said in a statement on Saturday that the investment will put his company “in a stronger position to fight back against the tyranny of Big Tech.” 

“$1 billion sends an important message to Big Tech that censorship and political discrimination must end,” Trump said in a statement. “America is ready for TRUTH Social, a platform that will not discriminate on the basis of political ideology.” 

TMTG said in October that the site and accompanying app is expected to launch in early 2022, following an invite-only beta trial in November. However, CNBC reported on Wednesday that TRUTH Social may have missed its November deadline, as the company has yet to make an official announcement of a beta rollout.

In a pitch deck for TRUTH Social, TMTG stated that it aimed to “create a media powerhouse to rival the liberal media consortium and fight back against the ‘Big Tech’ companies of Silicon Valley who have used their unilateral power to silence opposing voices in America.” 

Trump’s announcement of the platform came after the former president was permanently banned from several major social media sites for policy violations earlier this year, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.