Son of sitting senator receives $30 million for derivatives exchange right out of college

The son of a sitting senator who has overseen financial institutions has just received $30 million for a startup less than a week after graduating from college.

Published: June 19, 2026 2:13pm

The son of a current U.S. Senator just received $30 million for his startup just a few days after he graduated from college.

Theodore Gillibrand, son of Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand, D-N.Y., received the money during a fundraise led by Lux Capital, according to Fortune. The startup is valued at $300 million. Theodore graduated with an undergraduate degree on Sunday.

The startup, American Perpetuals Exchange Corporation (APEC), is a trading platform that will list perpetual futures, essentially betting on the price of assets without owning those assets. The company plans to apply for a license from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to list those perpetuals on equities and stock indexes instead of cryptocurrency.

Sen. Gillibrand previously sat on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, which oversees the CFTC. Sen. Gillibrand is now on the Senate Banking Committee.

Prior to the multi-million dollar startup, the younger Gillibrand spent a month as a fellow at venture capital firm Paradigm, two months each at Blue Pool Capital and Signum Global Advisors, and before that he was an intern at Andreessen Horowitz and the U.S. Senate.

“My son is a grown adult starting his own independent business,” Gillibrand’s office told the New York Post. “I have no involvement in it whatsoever. That said, I’m enormously proud of him and wish him nothing but the best.”

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