Exposing Capital Factory

In Gaza, the sky is spangled with hydrogen drones. An American-Israeli teenager, stoic, sips a soy milk latte with one jittery hand, aims at a crowded apartment with the other. The image stabilizes, with AI programmed by video game designers turned war-profiteers. 20 seconds. Worlds detonate with a single click. A family tree eliminated. A kill list named ‘Lavender’ stains the streets crimson. A wounded child tells the doctor, “I was lying on the ground after a bomb had dropped, and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me.” We are witnessing the first AI-powered, high-tech genocide. The murderers walk freely among us, and Capital Factory is bringing them to Austin.

Capital Factory sprawls across four floors of the Omni Hotel Downtown— three are co-working spaces; one is for the military. By housing Department of War offices, Capital Factory is militarizing Austin’s economy, making it a breeding ground for genocidal technology.

For example, in 2018, BAE Systems, which makes electronics for Israel’s F-35 jets, expanded its electronic manufacturing facilities in Austin, citing the newly opened defense wing at CF as a reason (BAE website, 2018).

Every year since 2020, war profiteers make pilgrimage to Capital Factory’s Fed Supernova, the largest defense conference in North America, platforming BAE, Palantir, and Northrop Grumman, which arm the IOF. As a growing military-industrial hub, Capital Factory is sowing Austin into the genocide-tech capital of the world.

Zionist venture capitalists, like vultures, flock to Capital Factory, smelling blood money.

Capital Factory is exporting violence, and bringing it home, through working with Zionist VC investors, a vicious cycle: Ex-IOF officials create startups, financed by American venture capital (such as 8VC, Nightdragon, and TVP). They design the dystopian inventions that enable the occupation to mass murder Palestinians.

Now, they’re pitching their technology in the US as “battle-tested.” Israeli companies like Infinidome and Heven Aerotech, backed by TVP, are marketing for “border surveillance,” repurposing the weapons used to commit genocide in Gaza against migrants at the border.  

Most of these pitches have failed, coming off as arrogant and out of touch, but Capital Factory aims to change that. Last spring, Capital Factory and Texas Venture Partners launched the DoD Readiness Program, a summer camp to prep Israeli defense-tech founders on “breaking into the American market.” They were given special meetings with DoD officials, from Capital Factory’s insider contacts.

Texas Venture Partners is an Austin firm  that funds and mentors Israeli military startups, spearheaded by Tal Schmueli, who served in the IOF Special Forces near the Gaza apartheid wall, and Simone Ledeen, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for the Middle East. One startup that participated in the program was Shifters AI, which builds autonomous robots for war. By collaborating with TVP, Capital Factory is paving the way for Texas to become the place where Israelis proliferate and scale-up their high-tech murder weapons.

WE HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THIS.

We won’t let our infrastructure be hijacked for death, instead of wellbeing. The people of Austin have kicked warmongers out of SXSW, where they hosted events at Capital Factory. Recently, we stopped the construction of a warship facility by Saronic, a company backed by Capital Factory.

We call on you to support this campaign: Sign the petition. Endorse for your org. Spread the word. Sign up for updates and follow us to get the latest.

We are just getting started.