Here Are 5 Celebrities Who Are Investing In The Startup Ecosystem With the growing startup ecosystem, several popular personalities are looking to grab a slice of the pie
By Shreya Ganguly •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Since the past few years, Indian celebrities spanning across Bollywood, sports, musicians, authors, etc are bullish on start-ups. The growing start-up ecosystem and new innovation have been attracting several types of investment and individuals to bet on start-ups.
Here are some of the startup investments made by Indian celebrities over the years:
Deepika Padukone
According to recent media reports, Delhi-based e-mobility service provider Bu Smart raised $3 mn in angel funding round from Padukone's family office Ka Entreprises. Other investors such as JITO Angel Network, Kalpavriksh Trust, Survam Partners, co-founder of Micromax Rajesh Agarwal, and the MD of Bajaj Capital Sanjiv Bajaj also participated in the round. The popular Bollywood actor had begun her investing journey with her strategic partnership with Mumbai-headquartered FMCG health-food brand Epigamia in January. Apart from this, in 2015, Padukone had also launched her own fashion brand "All About You", which marked her entry into the startup ecosystem.
Amitabh Bachhan
The Big B of Bollywood had reportedly earned fortunes from his investment in Mumbai-based local search engine app JustDial. In 2010, the company had signed up the prominent actor as its brand ambassador. The company offered him 62,794 shares at a price of INR 10 each in 2011 which was valued at INR 6.27 lakh in total. According to a ToI report, in 2013, the value of his shares increased to INR 6.45 crore from his original investment of INR 6 lakh . Apart from this, Big B along with his son Abhishek Bachhan had reportedly invested $250,000 in Singapore-based Meridian Tech Pte.
Virat Kohli
The captain of the Indian cricket team had invested an undisclosed amount in London-based social media startup Sport Convo in 2014, according to media reports. The startup is aimed a reducing the gap between sports stars and fans.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Bollywood's renowned face Priyanka Chopra Jonas has been making to the headline after her successful entry into Hollywood. Apart from the gripping shows such as Quantico and Baywatch, Chopra also made it into the news because of her investment in the startup industry. Last year in October, the Quantico lead invested in two US-based startups — alternate college education startup Holberton School and dating app Bumble. The leading actor had also reportedly stated her plans to invest in social impact companies and those with women founders.
Yuvraj Singh
The popular cricketer dived into startup investment after fighting and winning over cancer. In 2015, it was reported that Singh along with former PricewaterhouseCoopers financial consultant Nishanth Singhal launched YouWeCan Ventures to support the Indian startup ecosystem. According to data by Crunchbase, the cricket star has already invested in number of startups such as Chqbook, Black White Orange, JetSetGo, MOOVO, Naturals @Home among many others.
