Joshua Kushner

Joshua Kushner
Joshua Kushner
Born	June 12, 1985 (age 41); Livingston, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, investor
Known for	Founder and managing partner of Thrive Capital; co-founder and vice chairman of Oscar Health
Notable work	Thrive Capital, Oscar Health, Cadre

Joshua Kushner (born June 12, 1985) is an American entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, as well as co-founder and vice chairman of Oscar Health. He is the youngest son of real estate magnate Charles Kushner and the younger brother of Jared Kushner, who served as a senior advisor to Donald Trump. Joshua also holds a minority ownership stake in the Memphis Grizzlies basketball team.

Early life and education

Born on June 12, 1985, in Livingston, New Jersey, Joshua Kushner was raised in a Jewish household by Charles and Seryl Kushner. He completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard College in 2008 and went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2011.

Early ventures

While a sophomore at Harvard, Kushner served as founding executive editor of Scene, a pop culture student magazine that received unfavorable reviews. During his junior year, he co-launched the social networking site Vostu alongside two graduate students, investing $10,000 to focus on Latin America—a region experiencing rapid growth yet underserved by English-language platforms such as Facebook. However, Vostu underwent major cutbacks following a copyright infringement lawsuit alleging game plagiarism.

After graduating, Kushner co-founded Unithrive, a startup modeled after Kiva’s peer-to-peer lending system aimed at enabling students to obtain interest-free loans up to $2,000 from alumni to cover college costs. He subsequently began his professional journey at Goldman Sachs within their private equity division, concentrating on distressed debt for one year.

Thrive Capital

Established in 2010, Thrive Capital is a venture capital firm concentrating on media and internet sectors. Since its founding, it has secured more than $7.3 billion from institutional investors including Princeton University. Thrive’s fundraising milestones include Thrive II ($40 million in 2011), Thrive III ($150 million in 2012), Thrive IV ($400 million in 2014), Thrive V ($700 million in 2016), Thrive VI ($1 billion in 2018), Thrive VII ($2 billion in 2021), Thrive VIII ($3 billion in 2022), and Thrive IX ($5 billion in 2024).

Kushner played a pivotal role as an early investor during Instagram’s Series B funding round, enabling Thrive to double its returns following Instagram’s acquisition by Facebook.

His leadership at Thrive has earned him accolades such as Forbes 30 Under 30, Inc.’s 35 Under 35, Crain’s 40 Under 40, and Vanity Fair’s Next Establishment lists.

In 2021, Goldman Sachs injected capital into Thrive at a valuation of $3.6 billion. Subsequently, Kushner sold a 3.3% ownership interest to prominent investors including Disney CEO Bob Iger and KKR co-founder Henry Kravis, which valued the firm at $5.3 billion.

By 2024, Forbes estimated Kushner’s net worth at approximately $3.8 billion, primarily derived from his stake in Thrive Capital. Fortune recognized him among its inaugural list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Business, highlighting Thrive’s early backing of OpenAI.

Oscar

As co-founder and vice chairman of Oscar Health, a health insurance startup launched in 2012, Kushner has played an integral role in the company’s growth. Oscar reached a valuation of $2.7 billion by 2016 and went public in 2021; at that time, Thrive Capital held shares valued around $1.21 billion. The company reported an $87 million loss during its initial quarter as a publicly traded entity.

In 2020, it emerged that Jared Kushner had contracted Oscar Health to develop a coronavirus testing website—a project that was ultimately abandoned—contradicting earlier public statements attributing development efforts to Google.

Cadre

In 2015, Joshua Kushner partnered with his brother Jared and Ryan Williams, who acts as CEO, to establish Cadre. This platform leverages technology to serve family offices and endowments interested in real estate investments.

JK2

Joshua and Jared Kushner each hold equal ownership of JK2, also known as Westminster Management, a firm specializing in property management. However, Joshua does not participate in the company's day-to-day operations.

In April 2021, a court found JK2 guilty of extensive breaches of Maryland’s consumer protection statutes at properties around Baltimore. These violations included unauthorized debt collection practices, charging improper fees, and providing false information about rental unit conditions. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, JK2 pursued numerous legal actions against tenants for unpaid rent and eviction despite existing moratoriums on evictions.

JK2 was spotlighted in the Netflix documentary series Dirty Money in the episode titled "Slumlord Millionaire." The episode was based on an investigation by ProPublica that accused the company of neglecting tenant rights, failing to maintain properties adequately, and engaging in aggressive litigation against renters.

Other activities

In 2019, Kushner purchased a 2.5% ownership interest in the Memphis Grizzlies, becoming a minority stakeholder in a transaction that valued the franchise at $1.32 billion. In 2024, he and his wife’s media enterprise, Bedford Media, revealed plans to relaunch Life magazine via a collaboration with Dotdash Meredith, with the initial print edition planned for early 2025. That same year, Kushner joined the board of directors at A24 Films, which had recently achieved a valuation of $3.5 billion following a major funding round.

Personal life

Kushner wed model Karlie Kloss in 2018. The couple has two sons born in March 2021 and July 2023 and announced expecting their third child in March 2025. Their real estate portfolio includes a $23.5 million residence in Miami acquired in 2020, a 7,200-square-foot penthouse located in Manhattan’s Puck Building purchased for $35 million in 2021, and the renowned Wave House in Malibu acquired for $29.5 million in August 2024.

In 2024, Kushner was named in a Washington Post article regarding a WhatsApp group comprising U.S. business leaders coordinating efforts to influence public opinion favorably toward Israel after Hamas’s attack in October 2023. A spokesperson clarified that Kushner was not an active participant in this group chat.

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