[csaa-forum] Olivier Jutel on 'A Critical Theory of Venture Capital' 9/9 3pm NZT / 1pm AEST

[Rosemary Overell]

Mōrena colleagues,


Please join us on zoom for our next Research Seminar. We will hear from Olivier Jutel<https://www.otago.ac.nz/mfco/staff/olivier-jutel> (The University of Otago) on ‘A Critical Theory of Venture Capital’ at 3pm NZT (1pm AEST) on Tues 9th Sept. Please register<https://forms.gle/MhJfW1cSWs8QfWYR7> for the zoom link. All welcome!



Abstract: A Critical Theory of Venture Capital



Venture capital (VC) embodies powerful fictions about the nature of capitalism, technological progress and the state. VC is a particular formation of financial, technological and ideological power that remains under-theorized in political economy, communication studies and critical theories of technology. I hold that it is the hegemonic fraction of capitalist power due to its popularization of specific techno-fantasies. Global corporate behemoths like Google, Meta and Nvidia serve as tales of VC backed abundance. The likes of Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen cultivate the mystique of single-minded iconoclasts who have stared into ‘the abyss of death’ and emerged as ‘dragon slayers’.



This presentation will outline a broad theory of VC power from private networks of finance, a media eco-system and an unbounded geography of techno-experimentation. At the heart of VC power are the financial and ideological imperatives of exit. The logics of growth, scale and monopoly are premised upon venture capitalists exiting from an equity stake. Ideologically exit fuels performative contrarianism, an arbitraging of the public trust and fantasies of ‘Network States’ and freedom cities. Social networks and culture war are essential to the valorization of VC networks. a16z is exemplary having described itself as “a media company that monetizes via investing” while championing technologies such as web3 that seek to make users venture capitalists in miniature. The VC philosopher or influencer emerges through this convergence of social networks and financialization to dictate future social necessity.



Bio

Olivier's work is centred on the geopolitics of digital media and emerging technologies. In his first post at the University of the South Pacific he saw the importance of the developing world to American narratives of network freedom and NGO experiments in Fintech. Emerging technologies continue to be dominated by colonial logics of abundance and the venture capitalist dream of 'blue oceans'. Olivier's work has looked at blockchain in the developing world as an extension of American techno-colonialism. This has included the rise of Pacific blockchain imperalism,<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2053951720985249> crypto-colonialism<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666389921003056> in West Africa<https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/blockchain/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2023.1160257/full> or the platform imperialism<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/29768624251325128#bibr73-29768624251325128> of American policy settings in Aotearoa / New Zealand. More recently he has written about the Network State movement of venture and crypto nomads, which Gizmodo has dubbed the "Worst New Trend of 2024"<https://gizmodo.com/worst-new-trend-of-2024-techno-colonialism-and-the-network-state-movement-2000525617>..


Ngā mihi
Rosie.



Rosemary Overell<https://www.otago.ac.nz/mfco/staff/rosemaryoverell.html>
Pūkenga Matua | Senior Lecturer
Pāpāho, Whitiāhua, Pārokoroko | Media, Film & Communication Programme
Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka | The University of Otago
Otepoti | Dunedin
Aotearoa New Zealand
9054

Latest publications:
Overell, R. (2024). ‘Don’t Worry Darling: The anxious question of what women want after #MeToo’. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Societyhttps://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-024-00461-5
Millar, I., Nicholls, B., Overell, R., & Tutt, D. (2023). Power and politics in Adam Curtis' Can't get you out of my head: An emotional history of the modern world. In C. Owens & S. Meehan O'Callaghan (Eds.), Psychoanalysis and the small screen: The year the cinemas closed<https://www.routledge.com/Psychoanalysis-and-the-Small-Screen-The-Year-the-Cinemas-Closed/Owens-OCallaghan/p/book/9781032223223>. (pp. 163-189). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Overell, R. (2025). ‘On her new album, Lorde creates pop at its purest – performative, playful and alive to paradox’<https://theconversation.com/on-her-new-album-lorde-creates-pop-at-its-purest-performative-playful-and-alive-to-paradox-259994>. The Conversation. 30th June.

Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.co.nz/citations?user=ZW7oyEAAAAAJ&hl=en>
LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemary-overell-047786222>


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