Vivek Ramaswamy, a politician and entrepreneur, made a significant portion of his wealth by starting biotechnology businesses and trading their stocks. However, the former GOP presidential candidate and current Ohio gubernatorial candidate intends to leverage that industry to finance a significant bitcoin wager.
The exchange-traded fund manager Strive Asset Management, which Ramaswamy co-founded in 2022, revealed on Tuesday that it had raised $750 million through private offers as part of its merger with publicly traded Asset Entities Inc. (ASST). About three weeks ago, Strive announced a reverse merger with Asset Entities.
Strive intends to target struggling biotechnology companies, which are valued between $5 million and $100 million each, but have cash values on their balance sheets ranging from $10 million to $400 million. These companies have experienced “clinical, regulatory, or commercial setbacks,” according to an investor presentation. Nearly 246 biotech companies are listed and trading at negative enterprise values, according to Strive.
According to the company’s presentation, Strive intends to merge with faltering biotech businesses, effectively purchasing the money at a bargain and utilizing it to purchase bitcoin. Strive frequently intends to provide current shareholders of a biotech company with contingency value rights to the therapeutic candidates in the development pipeline as part of these agreements.
Strive will try to purchase distressed bitcoin lawsuit claims in addition to the biotech approach. A request for comment was not answered by Strive or Ramaswamy.
President Donald Trump has shown his support for digital currencies by hosting a dinner recently for the top 220 holders of the “$TRUMP” digital token (TRUMPUSD), and the actions come as bitcoin (BTCUSD) has increased 17% in 2025 and is trading close to its all-time high.
The biotech industry, meanwhile, has provided far smaller profits.
The Nasdaq Biotech Index NBI has dropped 5.2% in 2025 and is down 7.6% in the last year, while the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index BTK is down 3.5% this year and up just 6.4% last year.
Ramaswamy’s biotech qualifications include investing in biotech for hedge fund QVT Financial and co-founding Roivant Sciences Ltd. (ROIV) in 2014.
According to reports, Strive, the media firm owned by Trump and his family, is preparing to issue more debt and stock as it introduces its new bitcoin strategy. With the money raised, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT) intends to invest about $3 billion in virtual currencies. GameStop Corp. (GME) said last month that it would begin incorporating bitcoin (BTCUSD) as a treasury-reserve asset.
The main commercial activity of Strategy Inc. (MSTR), formerly known as MicroStrategy, is also adding bitcoin to its balance sheet.
