Changing into a enterprise capitalist has grow to be the newest standing image in Hollywood.
Everybody today, 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 best way for the rise of “Hollywood angels.”
For founders, having celebs on the cap desk can deliver quite a lot of buzz to the startup — and bonus factors if the celeb is aware of what they’re doing, too. Listed below are a few of the high celebs investing and what they sometimes look to spend money on. (This listing will probably be up to date periodically).
Snoop Dogg
The well-known rapper and character is a prolific angel investor and can also be a founding father of Casa Verde Capital, a agency targeted on hashish investments. As an angel investor, in keeping with PitchBook, he’s backed corporations akin to Cameo, Reddit, Klarna, Robinhood, and the fintech MoonPay, alongside different celebs on this listing. He’s made not less than 26 investments, in keeping 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 identified today because the producers of the Kristen Bell Netflix present “No person Needs This.” They launched a enterprise agency in 2022 looking to raise $20 million to again shopper corporations, and the fund has formally closed, their reps confirmed to us. They know the patron space effectively: 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 not less than six checks, together with into corporations just like the diaper model Kudos (alongside Gwyneth Paltrow) and the luxury boxed wine company 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 support minority and underrepresented founders. It obtained its first exterior funding from J.P. Morgan as a part of one of many financial institution’s initiatives to fund more corporations led by girls and other people of coloration.
The agency has invested in not less than 14 corporations, in keeping 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 keeping 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 not less than $28 million, in keeping with an SEC filing from January. An October SEC submitting additionally reveals that HartBeat is attempting to boost capital for what seems to be an SPV seeking to spend money on Aston Martin’s Components One automotive racing staff.
Paris Hilton
The famed socialite can also be an angel investor, in keeping with PitchBook. She has made investments by means of her firm 11:11 Media, of which she is the CEO and co-founder. Her investments have included the crypto company MoonPay, the biotech firm Colossal Biosciences, the group occasion platform AfterParty, and the podcast platform Hearth Chats.
The theme for her appears to be social platforms, biotechnology, and SaaS merchandise that make shopper life simpler. She’s made not less than 22 investments, in keeping with PitchBook, and occurs to be married to Carter Reum, founding father of well-known Los Angeles agency M13 Ventures, which has invested in corporations akin to ClassPass, Canvas, and Pinterest, in keeping with its web site.
Ashton Kutcher
Maybe one of the famed and notable celebrity VCs is Ashton Kutcher. He’s the co-founder of two VC corporations, 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, seems to be to again software program corporations and has greater than $1 billion in property below administration, in keeping with PitchBook. It additionally invests out of thematic funds, and final 12 months launched an AI Progress Thematic fund, which invested in corporations akin to Hugging Face, OpenAI, Anthropic, and World Labs. He advised the viewers at TechCrunch’s 2024 Disrupt that he’s backing competitors in AI as a result of he thinks there’s room for a number of large AI mannequin corporations. His different notable investments between A-Grade and Sound embrace 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 keeping with PitchBook. Anand Murthy is a associate on the agency. The agency has invested in corporations akin to the bags model Away (alongside Jay-Z) and the bedding company Parachute, in keeping with PitchBook.
As an angel investor, Nas has made greater than 50 investments, in keeping with PitchBook. He’s backed SeatGeek, Robinhood, Ring, Coinbase, and the fintech Mercury.
Gwyneth Paltrow
The Goop founder has made not less than 24 investments as an angel investor, in keeping with PitchBook. She, alongside Moj Mahdara, can also be the co-founder of Kinship Ventures, which invests in shopper and wellness corporations. The agency was looking to raise a $75 million VC fund, Axios reported final 12 months, and has backed the crypto payment company MoonPay. In line with different SEC filings, it appears Kinship Ventures additionally raised what appears to be an SPV to back OpenAI and the bitcoin mining company TeraWulf.
As an angel investor, Paltrow has invested within the diaper company Kudos, the hair firm Crown Affair, the wonder e-commerce market 13 Lune, and the beverage model Olipop, alongside actress Priyanka Chopra, in keeping with PitchBook. Actress Mindy Kaling, rapper Logic, and the Jonas Brothers, also backed Olipop.
Emma Watson
The actress has minimize not less than two angel investor checks, in keeping with PitchBook. Investments embrace not less than two corporations, together with the biomanufacturing company FabricNano, and Hertility Health. Watson is a well-regarded activist, particularly with regards to the setting and girls’s rights. It’s no marvel, then, that her two angel investments are in corporations 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 studies that her new agency will give attention to shopper and enterprise expertise and has already minimize just a few checks, together with into Pendulum Therapeutics.
Investor Jason Mack and artist Santigold, identified for her track “L.E.S. Artistes,” are additionally companions on the agency, in keeping with Bloomberg. SEC filings present that Proximity is elevating two new SPV funds, together with a $5 million health fund and another $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 venture arm called Arrive Opportunities Management, which was as soon as managed by Neil Sirni, the investor now working with Olivia Wilde at Proximity. That enterprise arm has made not less than 40 investments, in keeping with PitchBook, backing corporations akin to Sweetgreen and Epic Video games.
Earlier than the merger, Marcy Enterprise Companions invested in a number of corporations, akin 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 company 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 — not less than 27, in keeping with PitchBook — into corporations like Oatly, Flowhub, Inconceivable Meals, and the bags firm Away.
