Changing into a enterprise capitalist has develop into the newest standing image in Hollywood.
Everybody today, from Olivia Wilde to Emma Watson, is both launching a enterprise agency or is within the means 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 carry numerous buzz to the startup — and bonus factors if the celeb is aware of what they’re doing, too. Listed here are a number of the high celebs investing and what they usually look to spend money on. (This listing can 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, based on PitchBook, he’s backed corporations reminiscent of Cameo, Reddit, Klarna, Robinhood, and the fintech MoonPay, alongside different celebs on this listing. He’s made a minimum of 26 investments, based on PitchBook. The managing accomplice 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 “Nobody Wants This.” They launched a enterprise agency in 2022 seeking to increase $20 million to again shopper corporations, and the fund has formally closed, their reps confirmed to us. They know the buyer space effectively: They have already got a podcast, a clothes line, and successful tv present.
PitchBook reveals the agency, which they run alongside enterprise accomplice Phil Schwarz, has written a minimum of six checks, together with into corporations 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 couple 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 obtained 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 ladies and other people of shade.
The agency has invested in a minimum of 14 corporations, based on 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, based on 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, based on 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 Components One automotive racing crew.
Paris Hilton
The famed socialite can also be an angel investor, based on PitchBook. She has made investments via 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 Hearth Chats.
The theme for her appears to be social platforms, biotechnology, and SaaS merchandise that make shopper life simpler. She’s made a minimum of 22 investments, based on PitchBook, and occurs to be married to Carter Reum, founding father of well-known Los Angeles agency M13 Ventures, which has invested in corporations reminiscent of ClassPass, Canvas, and Pinterest, based on its web site.
Ashton Kutcher
Maybe probably the most 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 accomplice.
Sound Ventures, based in 2015, appears to be like to again software program corporations and has greater than $1 billion in property below administration, based on PitchBook. It additionally invests out of thematic funds, and final yr launched an AI Development Thematic fund, which invested in corporations reminiscent of Hugging Face, OpenAI, Anthropic, and World Labs. He advised 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 corporations. 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, based on PitchBook. Anand Murthy is a accomplice on the agency. The agency has invested in corporations reminiscent of the bags model Away (alongside Jay-Z) and the bedding firm Parachute, based on PitchBook.
As an angel investor, Nas has made greater than 50 investments, based on 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, based on PitchBook. She, alongside Moj Mahdara, can also be the co-founder of Kinship Ventures, which invests in shopper and wellness corporations. The agency was seeking to increase a $75 million VC fund, Axios reported final yr, and has backed the crypto fee firm MoonPay. Based on 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 sweetness e-commerce market 13 Lune, and the beverage model Olipop, alongside actress Priyanka Chopra, based on 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, based on PitchBook. Investments embody a minimum of two corporations, together with the biomanufacturing firm FabricNano, and Hertility Well being. Watson is a well-regarded activist, particularly in terms of the atmosphere and ladies’s rights. It’s no surprise, then, that her two angel investments are in corporations that search to make product manufacturing extra sustainable and a ladies’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 know-how and has already minimize a number of checks, together with into Pendulum Therapeutics.
Investor Jason Mack and artist Santigold, identified for her tune “L.E.S. Artistes,” are additionally companions on the agency, based on 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 referred to 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, based on PitchBook, backing corporations reminiscent of Sweetgreen and Epic Video games.
Earlier than the merger, Marcy Enterprise Companions invested in a number of corporations, reminiscent of Rihanna’s Fenty x Savage (making Rihanna one of many few Black ladies on the planet 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, based on PitchBook — into corporations like Oatly, Flowhub, Unattainable Meals, and the bags firm Away.
