10 Celebrities who are investing in AI startups

Movie Stars, Musicians and Sports Personalities Are Investing Big Bucks To Fuel The Next, Big Tech Startup

1. Joe Montana, Football Legend

   Right before @sfgiants won! What a great game #gogiants #giants #sfgiants

   A post shared by Joseph Montana (@joemontana) on Oct 17, 2014 at 10:37am PDT

Since 2015, former NLF quarterback Joe Montana has been a board member of Liquid 2 Ventures, a seed stage fund.

His partners include Mike Miller, who co-founded Cloudant – a database service that eventually sold to IBM in 2014 – and Michael Ma, who co-founded TalkBin – a customer feedback platform that sold to Alphabet subsidiary Google in 2011.

The venture capital company took off swiftly; within the first two years, it invested in GitLab, Crowd Cow, Rappi, Captain401 and 90+ other seed companies.

One thing Montana stays away from; he has said in interviews to press, is putting his name on the company.

2. Jay – Z, Musician

A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Aug 23, 2016 at 7:38am PDT

While Beyonce has been all over the news lately, Jay-Z has been silently working his magic. He was one of the early investors in Uber. Jay Z invested in its 2011 Series B when it was valued at just $300 million. The company is now estimated to be valued at $62.5 billion.

The rapper music and entertainment venture Roc Nation, launched a new business arm called Arrive to lift smaller startups at the bud phase. Arrive supports young startups with capital and advice.

Jay-Z owns the New York 40/40 Club sports bar and is the co-creator of the clothing line Rocawear. He is the former president of Def Jam Recordings, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, and the founder of the entertainment company Roc Nation. He also founded the sports agency Roc Nation Sports and is a certified NBA and MLB sports agent. Jay-Z married singer Beyoncé in 2008. As a couple, they have an estimated combined net worth of $1.16 Billion.

Read More: Interview With Adam Meyers, VP, Intelligence At CrowdStrike

3. Ellen DeGeneres, Actor

Did you hear the big announcement? This is bananas… B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

A post shared by Ellen (@theellenshow) on Apr 10, 2018 at 3:52pm PDT

The comedian, host, actor and entrepreneur has always been on the ball about tracking new trends and startups. Through her Ellen Digital Ventures joint venture with Warner Bros, the talk show host invested in music app Chosen, launched the Heads Up app and started a digital network for programming from web stars like Tyler Oakley. Ellen Digital Ventures functions as an umbrella brand to extend her TV franchise to digital, social and gaming audiences. Ellen Digital Ventures has created EllenTube, and Ellen’s Dance Off.

According to reports, in 2011, a group of ex-Googlers launched Stamped, an app that evolved into a tool for tracking all of your favorite things. Yahoo bought the company in 2012 for $10 million, but not before talk show host Ellen DeGeneres invested an undisclosed amount.

4. Kobe Bryant, Basketball Player

#Queenmamba #Oscar

A post shared by Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) on Mar 5, 2018 at 10:10pm PST

The former Lakers player retired from the NBA at age 37 after a 20-year career with the Los Angeles team. That’s when he kicked off his second career as a venture capitalist.

Bryant teamed up with investor Jeff Stibel to launch a $100 million fund for tech companies. The duo invested together informally — having made deals with 15 companies since 2013.

The $100 Million is focused on tech, media and data companies and it is expected to last “the next few years,” according to a news report.

5. Leonardo DiCaprio, Actor

Grateful for all who came out to the @LeonardoDiCaprioFdn Gala & contributed to our efforts to protect the planet. This past year LDF and its partners made a measurable difference. We helped protect more than 1.6 million square kilometers of ocean – an area more than twice the size of Texas – including the creation of the largest marine reserve in the world in Antarctica’s Ross Sea. We are also supporting efforts to bring back the jaguar and the Mexican Gray Wolf – now 32 wolf packs have returned to the Pacific Northwest! In Tanzania our partner has restored the wildlife of Mkomazi national park, and in the grasslands of Kenya, where we are helping jump start an important carbon sequestration project. These are just a few of the stories about the impact the generosity of our donors has helped make possible. Click the link in bio to get involved.

A post shared by Leonardo DiCaprio (@leonardodicaprio) on Jul 29, 2017 at 3:45pm PDT

DiCaprio’s list of investments is as long and equally impressive as the number of films he has worked on. He is also one actor who likes to stay abreast with the latest technologies. DiCaprio’s investment in MindMaze is the latest in the actor’s portfolio of companies he’s put money into. His other investments include the garbage startup Rubicon Global, data analytics company Qloo, mattress maker Casper, and sustainable food company LoveTheWild.

MindMaze is a five-year-old Swiss startup that specializes in virtual reality technology that’s primarily been used in the healthcare industry. In February 2016, the startup scored a $100 million funding round that put its valuation at roughly $1 billion, qualifying it a so-called startup unicorn.

BITTEN BY THE BITCOIN 

Gwyneth Paltrow, actor — Abra

Paris Hilton, heiress —  LydianCoin Pte Ltd

Jamie Foxx, Actor —  Cobinhood

6. Bono, Musician

Now on @nbcsnl

A post shared by U2 Official (@u2) on Dec 2, 2017 at 9:09pm PST

Bono wears many hats. The singer-songwriter, philanthropist and now entrepreneur founded something called The Rise Fund. It is a private investment firm.

Bono helped start the Rise Fund last year with private equity firm TPG, raising $2 billion to focus on commercial projects capable of having a social or environmental impact.

7. Rapper Nas, Musician

Thanks for all who came out & supported. @sweetchicklife

A post shared by Nasir Jones (@nas) on Apr 8, 2018 at 8:06am PDT

Nas – the New York-bred artist who first hit the charts more than 20 years ago has turned into a prolific angel investor — founding the venture capital firm QueensBridge Venture Partners. The firm (not to be confused with the hip-hop supergroup Jones fronted back in the ’90s) funnels cash into start-ups as varied as healthcare, financial technology and Bitcoin.

QueensBridge, based in Los Angeles, has invested in more than 40 start-ups across a range of sectors like financial technology, healthcare and music production. His Queensbridge Venture Partners was an early investor in tech company Ring, which manufactures WiFi cameras and doorbells, and has now potentially earned him a pretty substantial amount of money.

It was announced earlier this week that Ring had been acquired by Amazon for $1 billion, therefore creating a windfall for Nas’ VC firm, who, alongside Richard Branson and Upfront Ventures, were early investors in the company.

8. Will.i.am, Musician

It’s 1982… I’m 7yrs old living in the projects in Boyle Heights… My mom is a 29yr old with 3kids… At some point my mama decided to send her 7yr old boy to Brentwood science magnet 2hrs away from home to get a better education… Imagine that… What was she thinking? No car, 2hrs from home, no way to get her kids if something were to happen… I remember waking up every morning at 5am to catch a yellow school bus at 6am… wow!!! I’ve literally been travel my whole life… I never would have thought this would happen… Being honoured by @theiet for my commitment to ensure kids in the inner city get the same opportunities I was blessed with and Brentwood science Magnet… Thank you Mama for doing what I couldn’t do if I had kids… (thats like putting your child on a southwest airplane from Long Beach to go to school in San Francisco everyday for 12yrs) Well mama your gut instinct payed off… And now being a geek is cool… I got teased in the hood… I was Never understood by hiphop for my non-thuggish ways, even though we were from the deep part of the east LA ghetto… I appreciate so much mama… Thanks for designing me mama… I love you so much… I still remember you shaking me at 5am: “willie wake up…you can’t miss the bus it’s time to go to school…” Thank you mama… You planted that seed and watered it everyday… look at me now mama I’m still growing… I’ll always be Your little willie…

A post shared by i.am/theSUN (@iamwill) on Nov 15, 2017 at 3:43pm PST

The multi-faceted entertainer and creative innovator, and a seven-time Grammy Award winner founded I.am+, the tech startup which raised $117m (£89m) in venture funding as recently as last year in 2012. While the company initially focused on consumer electronics devices such as headphones, it has lately branched out into looking for artificial intelligence products with voice recognition.

Since July 2017, the company has been using Omega to power an AI customer support chatbot and it plans to add a voice phone system soon.

 

9. Elton John, Musician

Truly amazing to have raised $5.9 million at last night’s Annual Oscar Viewing Party!! Huge thanks to everyone that supported us last night. We couldn’t do it without the generosity of our sponsors, performers, event chairs and loyal supporters. Together, we will end AIDS in our lifetime! @ejaf @ejafdn @bulgariofficial @bbvacompass @americanair @lalique @davidfurnish

A post shared by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on Mar 5, 2018 at 1:11pm PST

Qloo, which bills itself as “the cultural artificial intelligence data platform,” has raised $6.5 million in additional funding from AXA Strategic Ventures and Elton John. Qloo examines publicly available and open source data to try to understand patterns in consumer taste in categories like music, film, TV, books, podcasts, consumer products, fashion, dining, and travel.

According to Tech Crunch, while the company has built a cultural recommendation app that anyone can download, it’s currently focused on selling this data to other businesses.

10. Ashton Kutcher, Actor

#RandomButEffective if we combine the three of us we might be a super hero. Then again if you just did cena and gates… awe damn. #rotary17

A post shared by Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) on Jun 12, 2017 at 11:53am PDT

Ashton Kutcher has been investing in companies since before it became a fad. He has backed Foursquare and Skype in 2009, and tripling his $1 million investment in Skype when Microsoft bought the video chat platform.

In 2011, Kutcher created a venture fund, A-Grade Investments, with Ron Burkle and Guy Oseary. A-Grade has invested in multiple tech companies including Spotify, Airbnb, Foursquare, Fab, Uber, Dwolla, and Path. Kutcher is also co-founder of Katalyst, a media company creating original content for digital media, television, and film.

Read More: Interview With Dr. Spincer Koh, CEO, Gorilla Technology Group