Two companies that did initial public offerings last year changed leadership towards the end of 2025 and are now led by executives with close ties to the U.S. president and his company, Trump Media & Technology Group (also known as TMTG or ‘Trump Media’).
Both companies are SPACs (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies) – also known as ‘blank check’ or ‘shell’ companies – which were created to raise money through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the intent to use the funds for a future combination with an existing business. The investors in these IPOs do not know the future acquisition target.
The Texas Ventures website noted that Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp may pursue any business opportunity but specified the primary focus would be on industrial technology. A June 2025 filing for Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III also indicated they were pursuing any type of business opportunity but specified that they intended to focus on high-potential companies in the biotechnology, healthcare and technology sectors
The Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp deal
A September 2025 Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows that a subsidiary of Yorkville Advisors entered a purchase agreement with Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp for an aggregate purchase price of $7.4 million, that per this filing represents 25% of the ordinary shares.
As a condition of the purchase the then-existing board of directors and officers all resigned and new board directors and officers were elected: Lawrence Glick, Omar Hasan, Alan Garten, Scott Glabe, Mark Angelo, and Devin Nunes as directors, and Mark Angelo the Chairman of the board. Kevin McGurn was appointed CEO and Troy Rillo was appointed CFO.
The similarities in the Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp and Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III deals with Yorkville and Trump-linked business executives
The Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp transaction was almost identical to my recent story on Devin Nunes and others linked to Trump Media & Technology Group who became directors of Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III per a November 2025 SEC filing regarding a purchase agreement for $7.2 million.
Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp and Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III are both SPACs incorporated in the Cayman Islands that went public last year with plans to combine with other operating businesses in the future. Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp closed a $225 million IPO last April and Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III closed a $253 million IPO last June.
The Texas Ventures website notes that Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp may pursue any business opportunity but specifies the primary focus would be on industrial technology. A June 2025 filing for Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III also indicated they were pursuing any type of business opportunity but specified that they intended to focus on high-potential companies in the biotechnology, healthcare and technology sectors
Towards the end of 2025 both SPACs separately entered purchase agreements with subsidiaries of Yorkville Advisors, a company invested in and partnering closely with Trump Media & Technology Group.
Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp and Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III are now sponsored by subsidiaries of Yorkville Advisors. Both companies are run by CEO Kevin McGurn and CFO Troy Rillo, with directors Devin Nunes and Scott Glabe (CEO and General Counsel of Trump Media, respectively), and Mark Angelo, President of Yorkville Advisors.
As I reported here, Yorkville Advisors is a close partner with Trump Media:
Yorkville Advisors has been an investor in Trump Media & Technology Group since 2022 and since then has been involved in multiple financing and business deals with TMTG. In February 2023 TMTG entered into a standby equity purchase agreement/SEPA with YA II PN, Ltd, an investment fund managed by Yorkville Advisors. The agreement granted TMTG the option to issue up to $2.5 billion in shares of common stock to Yorkville over three years.
More recently TMTG, Yorkville Advisors and Charles Schwab have partnered together to expand investment vehicles and TMTG, Yorkville and Crypto.com have partnered together to launch ETFs.
Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp deal includes two executives from the Trump Organization
One key difference in these deals is that Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp also has two directors who are Trump Org executives – Alan Garten, EVP and Chief Legal Officer and Lawrence Glick, EVP of Development at the Trump Organization. Another director of Texas Ventures Acquisition III is Omar Hasan, VP of Strategic Finance and Growth at Reddit, Inc., and a board member of Yorkville Acquisition Corp.
As I reported last year, Alan Garten and Lawrence Glick became investors in the financial firm Dominari Holdings – along with Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Trump Org EVP Ronald Lieberman – with all five owning a combined 20% of Dominari.
Kevin McGurn, the CEO of multiple SPACs linked to Trump, is also an advisor to Trump Media
The new CEO of Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp Kevin McGurn, who is also the CEO of Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III, is also an advisor to Trump Media & Technology Group. McGurn is also the CEO of New America Acquisition I Corp, a company launched with Eric and Donald Trump Jr. (as I reported here). McGurn is also CEO of Yorkville Acquisition Corp.
Three filings from 12/31/25 show that Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp, Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III, and Yorkville Acquisition Corp., all approved separate agreements to pay Kevin McGurn an advisory fee of $15,000 per month related to his work on future business combinations.
Another filing shows that in September 2025 Kevin McGurn became CEO of Sono Group N.V., the Germany-based parent company of Sono Motors GmbH, a solar technology company.
I reported here that Kevin McGurn previously set up a business with an executive at ARC Group based in Shanghai, China – a company that worked with DWAC, the firm that merged with Trump Media. I published this chart on ARC Group and their work with DWAC and reported that in 2017 the SEC issued three Stop Orders on companies linked to ARC Group executives.
As I noted in my last article “One of the remarkable things about Trump-affiliated business people is how they can all manage to juggle so many balls at once, serving as leaders of multiple large businesses, often in completely unrelated industries.” Kevin McGurn’s LinkedIn profile shows that he is CEO ‘Full-time’ of at least three different companies, all of them linked to Yorkville and Trump Media or Trump Organization key executives.
Executives who work at companies majority owned by Donald Trump and Yorkville Advisors are now leading several blank check companies that plan to combine in the future with other businesses. It remains to be seen how these two recent deals for Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp and Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III will progress, but they can be added to the long list of ways the Trump family and close associates are thriving and profiting under the Trump administration.