Turning into a enterprise capitalist has turn into the newest standing image in Hollywood.
Everybody lately, from Olivia Wilde to Emma Watson, is both launching a enterprise agency or is within the technique of backing the subsequent hottest firm. Robinhood, Uber, and Klarna all have some glitzy names on their cap tables, paving the way in which for the rise of “Hollywood angels.”
For founders, having celebs on the cap desk can convey a variety of buzz to the startup — and bonus factors if the celeb is aware of what they’re doing, too. Listed below are a number of the prime celebs investing and what they sometimes look to spend money on. (This checklist can be up to date periodically).
Snoop Dogg
The well-known rapper and persona is a prolific angel investor and can also be a founding father of Casa Verde Capital, a agency centered on hashish investments. As an angel investor, in accordance with PitchBook, he’s backed firms similar to Cameo, Reddit, Klarna, Robinhood, and the fintech MoonPay, alongside different celebs on this checklist. He’s made a minimum of 26 investments, in accordance with PitchBook. The managing associate of Casa Verde Capital is Karan Wadhera and the agency closed a $94 million Fund II in 2020.
Sara and Erin Foster
The Foster sisters are two of Hollywood’s most well-known siblings, finest recognized lately because the producers of the Kristen Bell Netflix present “Nobody Wants This.” They launched a enterprise agency in 2022 seeking to increase $20 million to again client firms, and the fund has formally closed, their reps confirmed to us. They know the patron space properly: They have already got a podcast, a clothes line, and successful tv present.
PitchBook reveals the agency, which they run alongside enterprise associate Phil Schwarz, has written a minimum of six checks, together with into firms just like the diaper model Kudos (alongside Gwyneth Paltrow) and the luxurious boxed wine firm Juliet.
As angel traders, the sisters have additionally invested within the alkaline water firm ZenWTR. Sara can also be an angel investor within the swimwear firm Summersalt and the ear-piercing startup Rowan.
Kevin Hart
A number of years in the past, comic Kevin Hart launched a enterprise agency, HartBeat Ventures, alongside Robert Roman, an investor with a background in monetary administration for leisure and sports activities celebrities.
The agency was based round 2021 with the mission to help minority and underrepresented founders. It acquired its first exterior funding from J.P. Morgan as a part of one of many financial institution’s initiatives to fund extra companies led by girls and other people of colour.
The agency has invested in a minimum of 14 firms, in accordance with PitchBook, together with the artwork market Masterworks, the 3D printing firm Prepared Participant Me, and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty lingerie line. Tashi Nakanishi and Walid Samaha are companions on the agency, in accordance with LinkedIn, whereas Ron Everline serves as vice chairman.
HartBeat Ventures started elevating its Fund I in 2022 with no goal quantity. As of January 2024, it has raised a minimum of $28 million, in accordance with an SEC submitting from January. An October SEC submitting additionally reveals that HartBeat is attempting to lift capital for what appears to be an SPV seeking to spend money on Aston Martin’s Method One automobile racing group.
Paris Hilton
The famed socialite can also be an angel investor, in accordance with PitchBook. She has made investments by her firm 11:11 Media, of which she is the CEO and co-founder. Her investments have included the crypto firm MoonPay, the biotech firm Colossal Biosciences, the group occasion platform AfterParty, and the podcast platform Fireplace Chats.
The theme for her appears to be social platforms, biotechnology, and SaaS merchandise that make client life simpler. She’s made a minimum of 22 investments, in accordance with PitchBook, and occurs to be married to Carter Reum, founding father of well-known Los Angeles agency M13 Ventures, which has invested in firms similar to ClassPass, Canvas, and Pinterest, in accordance with its web site.
Ashton Kutcher
Maybe one of the vital famed and notable celeb VCs is Ashton Kutcher. He’s the co-founder of two VC companies, A-Grade and Sound Ventures, each of which he began with Man Oseary. Shortly after launching Sound, Effie Epstein joined as managing associate.
Sound Ventures, based in 2015, appears to again software program firms and has greater than $1 billion in property below administration, in accordance with PitchBook. It additionally invests out of thematic funds, and final 12 months launched an AI Progress Thematic fund, which invested in firms similar to Hugging Face, OpenAI, Anthropic, and World Labs. He informed the viewers at TechCrunch’s 2024 Disrupt that he’s backing opponents in AI as a result of he thinks there’s room for a number of large AI mannequin firms. His different notable investments between A-Grade and Sound embody Affirm, Airbnb, Airtable, Duolingo, and Uber.
Nas
The famed rapper Nas based his agency QueensBridge Enterprise Companions again in 2014. It’s made greater than 130 investments throughout varied industries and has round $140 million in property below administration, in accordance with PitchBook. Anand Murthy is a associate on the agency. The agency has invested in firms similar to the bags model Away (alongside Jay-Z) and the bedding firm Parachute, in accordance with PitchBook.
As an angel investor, Nas has made greater than 50 investments, in accordance with PitchBook. He’s backed SeatGeek, Robinhood, Ring, Coinbase, and the fintech Mercury.
Gwyneth Paltrow
The Goop founder has made a minimum of 24 investments as an angel investor, in accordance with PitchBook. She, alongside Moj Mahdara, can also be the co-founder of Kinship Ventures, which invests in client and wellness firms. The agency was seeking to increase a $75 million VC fund, Axios reported final 12 months, and has backed the crypto cost firm MoonPay. In line with different SEC filings, it appears Kinship Ventures additionally raised what appears to be an SPV to again OpenAI and the bitcoin mining firm TeraWulf.
As an angel investor, Paltrow has invested within the diaper firm Kudos, the hair firm Crown Affair, the wonder e-commerce market 13 Lune, and the beverage model Olipop, alongside actress Priyanka Chopra, in accordance with PitchBook. Actress Mindy Kaling, rapper Logic, and the Jonas Brothers, additionally backed Olipop.
Emma Watson
The actress has minimize a minimum of two angel investor checks, in accordance with PitchBook. Investments embody a minimum of two firms, together with the biomanufacturing firm FabricNano, and Hertility Well being. Watson is a well-regarded activist, particularly with regards to the atmosphere and girls’s rights. It’s no marvel, then, that her two angel investments are in firms that search to make product manufacturing extra sustainable and a girls’s well being platform.
Olivia Wilde
Actress and director Olivia Wilde teamed up with Neil Sirni, who led Roc Nation’s enterprise division Arrive, to launch the enterprise agency Proximity, Bloomberg reported in October. Wilde doesn’t have a PitchBook profile simply but however Bloomberg experiences that her new agency will deal with client and enterprise know-how and has already minimize a couple of checks, together with into Pendulum Therapeutics.
Investor Jason Mack and artist Santigold, recognized for her track “L.E.S. Artistes,” are additionally companions on the agency, in accordance with Bloomberg. SEC filings present that Proximity is elevating two new SPV funds, together with a $5 million well being fund and one other $10 million fund.
Jay-Z
The music mogul is an angel investor and co-founder of RocNation and of what’s now MarcyPen Capital Companions, an funding agency stemming from the merger of Jay-Z’s Marcy Enterprise Companions with Pendulum Holding’s funding arm Pendulum Alternatives.
Roc Nation has a enterprise arm known as Arrive Alternatives Administration, which was as soon as managed by Neil Sirni, the investor now working with Olivia Wilde at Proximity. That enterprise arm has made a minimum of 40 investments, in accordance with PitchBook, backing firms similar to Sweetgreen and Epic Video games.
Earlier than the merger, Marcy Enterprise Companions invested in a number of firms, similar to Rihanna’s Fenty x Savage (making Rihanna one of many few Black girls on the earth to have a unicorn firm) and the web3 firm Spatial Labs. Charlie Hanna and Mason O’Hanlon are listed as traders at MarcyPen Capital Companions on PitchBook and LinkedIn.
Moreover, as an angel investor, Jay-Z has made some notable investments — a minimum of 27, in accordance with PitchBook — into firms like Oatly, Flowhub, Unattainable Meals, and the bags firm Away.
