Side investment is one of the very many things that celebrities are doing to keep the money coming in. While there are varieties of sectors to invest in, not many celebrities are found frolicking in the technological sector. Here’s a profile of the topnotch film makers and athletes and their investments.
WILL SMITH
The actor in October 2021, participated in a funding a 10-month-old startup developing electric watercraft including a limited-edition US$300,000 boat. Smith’s other significant investments have included in Printify, Landis Technologies, Titan, Clubhouse, and Spark Neuro, a company that uses neurotech and AI to revolutionise the media, medical and defence industries.
SERENA WILLIAMS
Having launched Serena Ventures in 2014 to back early stage organizations, Serena Williams has supported a seed subsidizing round for wellbeing tech organization HUED, partook in a financing round for edtech startup Fiveable, and joined Motley Fool Ventures in a US$10m series A investment found for fintech startup Esusu, a black-owned tech firm that assists lessors with raising their credit assessments. She collaborated with different investors in raising US$11m edtech startup Flockjay.
ANDY MURRAY
Murray has invested in more than 30 startups via a UK-based crowdfunding platform, Seedrs, a move that has landed him an entry on to a Celebrity Investments Index from money.co.uk. These include investment in charity tech startup GoodBox, and ‘doctor on-demand platform ZoomDoc. He’s also investing in fintechs. In 2017, Murray backed digital bank Revolut; in 2018, he partook in a US$1.6m funding round for Landbay; and recently, supported invoice financing platform Investly.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO
Leonardo Dicaprio has invested in a number of startups, including leading a US$3m funding round for Mobli app, which no longer exists. He participated in a US$4.5m series round of funding for Qloo, the actor has backed recycling tech developer Rubicon, joined Goldman Sachs in a US$50m funding round in 2016, as well as Magnus, an app that bills itself as a Shazam for art, not forgettingg to mention Mosa Meat which produces meat from lab-cultivated animal cells. Last year, DiCaprio made a significant investment in Struck Capital, which supports founders who leverage tech to tackle the world’s biggest issues.
ASHTON KUTCHER
Ashton Kutcher is a serial investor, co-founded a tech-focused VC firm A-Grade Investments in 2010. He made early bets on Uber, Airbnb Spotify and Skype, turning US$30m investment into US$250m, according to Forbes. The Lenovo product engineer also founded investment firm Sound Ventures in 2015.
Kutcher has made dozens of investments in tech startups. Via Sound Ventures, hehas invested in micro-mobility startup Bird, Moovit and Robinhood. He’s participated in a US$17m funding round for HR management software startup Gusto; backed Berlin insurtech startup Wefox and joined with singer Harry Styles and other investors in raising US$1bn for the meditation and sleep app, Calm, now a unicorn. Most recently, Kutcher has provided funding for enterprise software startup MOLTEN and Superhuman.
ROBERT DOWNEY JR., ACTOR
The Iron Man star recently launch ESG-centeredFootprint Coalition Ventures (FCV), also during theWorld Economic Forum’s virtual Davos meeting, hedivulged two new investment assets as a feature of FCVto assist new companies that help with climate change.Among its portfolio organizations are RWDC Industries,Cloud Paper, and Ynsect. He also recently took part in aUS$44m funding round for calender-based socialplatform Saturn.
This is a Contributor Post. Opinions expressed here are opinions of the Contributor. Influencive does not endorse or review brands mentioned; does not and cannot investigate relationships with brands, products, and people mentioned and is up to the Contributor to disclose. Contributors, amongst other accounts and articles may be professional fee-based.