Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other funds won’t touch

Re:Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other... by joe_the_user on Thursday November 14, 2019 @04:27PM (#21539617)

I think most of the firearms industry serves police and military and I don't think that part has trouble getting finance of whatever sort it might need. Retail gun sales are a somewhat exceptional little piece of the overall arms industry. Many nations that control access to arms for their citizens still maintain and support an arms industry, including small firearms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_industry

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Re:Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other... by jack_h on Thursday November 14, 2019 @04:41PM (#21539763)

This is true for major manufacturers that have been around for decades or even centuries. Small start-ups have a much harder time finding funding.

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Re:Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other... by beat on Thursday November 14, 2019 @05:07PM (#21539988)

Small startups doing expensive manufacturing in the face of existing industrial-grade competition will always have a hard time finding funding, because the risk/reward ratio sucks.

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Re:Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other... by jack_h on Thursday November 14, 2019 @05:37PM (#21540264)

True, and the general consensus is if you want to make a start-up in this industry just don't. It's more likely you'll end up on a future episode of Forgotten Weapons.

I can definitely understand not wanting to invest in these sorts of start-ups purely from an ROI perspective.

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Re:Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other... by ARandomerDude on Thursday November 14, 2019 @06:07PM (#21540511)

The "firearms industry" is a subset of the "arms industry." "Firearms" are rifles, pistols, and shotguns. "Arms" include those, plus tanks, fighter jets, artillery, nuclear weapons, etc.

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Re:Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other... by nyolfen on Thursday November 14, 2019 @06:20PM (#21540612)

there is crossover but you might as well lump together stealth bombers and SUVs. the vast, vast majority of firearms produced by US companies are for civilians.

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Re:Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other... by ARandomerDude on Thursday November 14, 2019 @06:52PM (#21540891)

Completely agree, that was my point. The parent comment lumped them together, including a Wikipedia link to an article on "the arms industry." But the arms industry is so vast that high-level conclusions about government purchasing have almost nothing to do with the grandparent comment about credit card fees at local gun stores.

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Re:Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other... by catalogia on Thursday November 14, 2019 @11:14PM (#21542157)

> "there is crossover but you might as well lump together stealth bombers and SUVs."

Saab comes to mind.

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Re:Vice Ventures is investing in taboo industries that other... by manfredo on Thursday November 14, 2019 @11:14PM (#21542152)

Again, the vast majority of "firearms" but not the vast majority of "arms". People aren't buying F-35s at their local gun store.

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