I'm a celebrity investor, get me tech startups!
by Startacus Admin
2019 saw celebrities contribute to start-up investments in record numbers, surpassing a previous spike in 2015, with celebrities participating in $2.25bn worth of funding rounds towards startup investments in 2019.
Using Crunchbase data, Tide looked into which celebrities are the biggest investors in tomorrow’s start-ups and which years and business categories have seen the most celebrity investor participation from 2010 to 2019.
Ashton Kutcher has participated in nearly a quarter of these investments, contributing to $3.13bn for businesses in a range of different sectors. His biggest investment was 
on a $500m funding round for Zenefits.
Over the last few decades, savvy celebrities have found ways to increase their net worth by tens of millions outside of their day jobs by making lucrative investments in all areas of business.
Whether it’s was in software startups or esports enterprises, Tide, a fintech UK startup used Crunchbase data to find out which stars are the biggest investors, and which years and business categories have seen the most celebrity investor participation. To discover which celebrities are the busiest and biggest investors, their analysis considers £9.4 billion of investment rounds for 981 different investments.
The analysis identified that:
Rapper and entrepreneur Nasir "Nas" Jones has participated in 188 funding rounds (comprising a total investment figure of over £1.1bn), which is more than any other celebrity investor on our list. Ashton Kutcher comes in second place, having participated in 159 funding rounds.
Ashton Kutcher has participated in nearly a quarter of these investments, contributing to $3.13bn for businesses in a range of different sectors. His biggest investment was on a $500m funding round for Zenefits.
Legendary tennis player Tennis player, Serena Williams is the leading female celebrity investor with 29 investments, coming in at 6th on the decade long league table.
All data used in the study was sourced from Crunchbase and was valid from 31 October 2019. Crunchbase source its data via their venture program, machine learning, an in-house data team, and the Crunchbase community.
For this analysis, Tide analysed 150 celebrities’ Crunchbase profiles to find the total number of their investments and the companies into which they have made investments. For the purposes of the study, they did not make a distinction between personal investments (investments directly made by the celebrity) or partner investments (investments made by the company directly invested in by the celebrity).
Check out the full Tide study if you fancy too.
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Published on: 13th January 2020
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