Showbiz stock-folios: Who are the best celebrity investors? – Invezz

It’s no secret that the top celebrities are earning a fair bit of money, so it can be interesting to see how they spend their wealth.

Some celebrities buy properties or treat themselves to expensive cars, however, some choose to invest their wealth in passions away from their day job. 

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Whether you are an athlete, an actor/actress, or a musician, it can often be a shorter career than the everyday person. So an investment can secure their long-term financial future.

After revealing the best stock trading platforms, here at Invezz, we channeled our passion for investing to find out which celebrities are the most active investors, as well as what investments they’re making. 

We’ve looked into the top celebrity investors to see how much money they’ve raised, how successful their companies are, and how active their VC firms are to determine which celebrities are the best of the best!

The celebrity investors with the most successful investments

We’ve used Crunchbase to determine which investments made by celebrities have received the most money during various funding stages. 

1. Mark Cuban – $3.3 billion raised from companies he’s invested in

Mark Cuban takes the top spot with a whopping $3.3 billion raised from companies he has invested in, $600 million more than any other celebrity investor on this list. The American entrepreneur is also the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks. 

2. Jared Leto – $2.7 billion raised from companies he’s invested in

Jared Leto takes second place with the companies he’s invested in raising just under $2.7 billion during funding stages. Not only is the American actor successful on screen, but Jared was also part of the band 30 Seconds to Mars. 

3. Ashton Kutcher – $2.06 billion raised from companies he’s invested in

Ashton Kutcher completes our top three with $2 billion dollars raised by the companies he has invested in. The American actor, who starred in Two and a Half Men, is one of many celebrities who has invested in MoonPay, which received $555 million in its last funding round, making up over a quarter of the $2 billion. 

Interestingly, Will Smith and The Chainsmokers, who conclude our top 10, have both joined Jared Leto in investing in Step, which is a mobile banking company for teenagers. In its most recent round of funding, Step raised $100 million, which makes up around 9% of both Will Smith and The Chainsmokers total amount. 

The celebrities with the most investments

We’ve also looked at the total number of investments each of our celebrities have made, to see how active each celebrity is. 

1. Mark Cuban – 217 investments

Mark Cuban tops our list again with a whopping 217 investments. The first of his 217 was the Mobile 360. Since 2011, Mark has been a regular on the show, Shark Tank, which gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to invest in upcoming businesses. 

2. Ashton Kutcher – 67 investments

Ashton Kutcher takes second place in our list with 67 investments. Although he is nowhere near first place, he comfortably sits in second by 19 companies. The first of his 67 investments came in March 2010, when he invested in Optimizely.

3. Baron Davis – 48 investments

Baron Davies completes our top three with 48 investments to his name. Davies retired after the 2016 season, and the former basketball player has turned his attention to investing. The point guard, who made nine investments during his playing career, has encouraged young basketball players to invest.

Overall, the remaining investors have made 243 investments between them, only 12 more than Mark Cuban alone. Despite entering the top 10, Scooter Braun hasn’t made an investment this year. The popular band, The Chainsmokers, have made the most recent investment outside the top three and is one of three investors who has made an investment in July, joining Will Smith and Baron Davis. 

The celebrities with the most exits

An exit occurs when an investor decides to end their involvement with that company. This can be due to a failing business, or to cash in on a healthy profit. 

1. Mark Cuban – 31 exits

There are no surprises that the man with the most investments also has the most exits. Mark Cuban takes the top spot with 31 exits, ten more than any other person on this list. Amongst his exits are a number of finance companies, as well as three esports/gaming companies, one of which being Unikrn. He also exited the cloud computing company called Box.

2. Ashton Kutcher – 21 exits

Comfortably in second place is Ashton Kutcher who has made 21 exits. Duolingo, Gigster, and Airbnb are amongst the 21 exits he has made. 

3. Jared Leto – 10 exits

Reddit and Houseparty, which went viral during the COVID-19 pandemic, are amongst Jared Leto’s ten exits, which place him joint third in our list. 

4. Troy Carter – 10 exits

Troy Carter shares third place with Jared Leto, with ten exits from his 21 investments. Carter has a number of advertisement companies amongst his 10 exits, as well as the money organisation tool, Truebill, and a charitable company called Prizeo.

The most active celebrity investment firms

Some celebrities have set up their own firms to power their passion for investment, setting up platforms to help others make investments. That’s why we’ve looked into which celebrity investment firms have made the most investments.

1. Sound Ventures – 173 investments

The investment firm, Sound Ventures, has made 173 investments since it was founded in 2015, which averages almost 26 investments a year.  Sound Ventures is owned by Ashton Kutcher who has regularly featured throughout our lists.

2. QueensBridge Venture Partners – 128 investments

Queensbridge Venture Partners take second place with 128 investments. This investment firm is owned by Nasir Jones, better known as Nas, who has made the most investments in e-commerce companies, with 20 of his 128 investments coming in this industry. 

3. Thirty Five Ventures – 59 investments

Kevin Durant’s investment firm completes our top three with 59 investments. The basketball player has seven investments in the sports industry, the second highest of any industry, second only to software. 

The most successful celebrity-owned businesses

With many celebrities turning their attention to investing and starting their own businesses, we’ve looked at the most successful based on their estimated worth.

1. Kanye West – Yeezy – $5 billion estimated worth

Taking top spot is Kanye West’s clothing brand, Yeezy, with an estimated worth of $5 billion. Yeezy is best known for its collaboration with Adidas, producing a number of hugely successful shoes. Yeezy has also collaborated with Gap to produce a line of hoodies. 

2. Kim Kardashian – SKIMS – $3.2 billion estimated worth

Kanye West’s ex wife, Kim Kardashian takes second place with her clothing brand, SKIMS. SKIMS sells shapewear clothing, as well as underwear and loungewear, and its success has earned Kim Kardashian’s company a valuation of $3.2 billion. 

3. Dr. Dre – Beats by Dre – $3 billion estimated worth

Beats by Dre, owned by none other than Dr. Dre, completes our top three with a $3 billion estimated worth. In 2014, Apple bought Beats for $3 billion, $2.6 billion in cash, and $400 million in stock for the company, with Dr. Dre maintaining a 25% stake in the business.

Upcoming investors

We wanted to find out which celebrity investors have the potential to break into the top 50 in the coming months. That’s why we’ve looked at investors with a Crunchbase rating of 51-100 and looked at who has made the most investments since 2021, to discover which investors are up-and-coming.

1. Gabrielle Union – 100% of their 7 investments after 2021

Gabrielle Union takes top spot with all seven of her investments coming after 2021. The actress has starred in a number of movies, such as Bring It On and Bad Boys II, before turning her attention to investing. 

2. Pau Gasol/Justin David Blau – 100% of their 6 investments after 2021

Second place is shared between Pau Gasol and Justin David Blau who have both made their 6 investments after 2021. Gasol, the former basketball player, retired in 2021 after playing for FC Barcelona and has focused his attention on investing since retiring. 

Blau on the other hand is a 31-year-old DJ and has made just one investment in 2022. His other five all came in 2021, with his first in March last year when he invested in OpenSea. 

3. Maria Sharapova/Dez Bryant 100% of their 5 investments after 2021

Two investors share third place to complete our top three. Both Maria Sharapova and Dez Bryant made all of their five investments after 2021. The former tennis player retired in 2020, and a year, she became one of many celebrities to invest in MoonPay, which was also her most recent investment. Bryant is currently a free agent in the NFL, and is using his free time to make a few investments, with three of his five coming in 2022. 

Investors that are winding down

We’ve looked at the top 50 ranked investors in Crunchbase and looked at how many investments they made in 2021, to discover who has made the least, and therefore is most at risk of dropping out of the top 50 due to their lack of investments since 2021.

1. Scooter Braun – 3.45% of their 29 investments after 2021

Scooter Braun takes the top spot making just 1 investment since 2021. His only investment since then was in October of that year when he invested in Superplastic. Braun is a talent manager and record executive and is known for being the manager of the likes of Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. 

2. Karlie Kloss – 10% of their 10 investments after 2021 

Karlie Kloss has also made just one investment since 2021, making up 10% of her 10 investments in total. The fashion model’s only investment was in February 2021 when she invested in Therabody. 

3. Matt Bellamy – 11% of their 18 investments after 2021

Matt Bellamy completes our top three, making just two of his 18 investments after 2021. The two investments he made were Nobel Foods and Albedo, which were in July and April of 2021 respectively. He is best known for being the lead singer in the band Muse. In his defence, he released the album, Will of the People, in 2022 which could explain his break from investing.

Trending industries that celebrities are investing in

We’ve looked at the top ten investors who have made the most investments to discover which industries they have invested in. We’ve looked at investments made in 2022, to find out which industries were the most popular amongst our investors.

1. Finance – 9 companies in this industry

Finance has been the most popular industry to invest in amongst our celebrity investors so far during 2022. Front Finance and Kinly are among the 9 companies in the finance industry.

2. Cryptocurrency/software – 5 companies in this industry

Two industries share second place with five cryptocurrency and five software companies receiving investment from our top 10 investors. Two of Nasir Jones’ investments in 2022 were in the cryptocurrency industry, with a particular focus on NFTs.

3. Health/E-Commerce – 3 companies in this industry

Completing our top three is the Health and E-Commerce industry, which shares third place with three companies. Rupa Health was one of the health companies that our celebrities invested in, which focuses on education to allow people to practise medicine. 

Methodology

To get our original list of celebrity investors, we looked at the top 50 celebrities on Crunchbase. Using the top 50, we totalled the amount raised during funding rounds for each of our celebrity’s investments. The amount displayed is the total that the company received and not the individual’s contribution to that total. 

Also using Crunchbase, we were able to see which celebrities had made the most investments, as well as the most exits from their investments.

To find out our celebrity-owned businesses, we used listicles from Insider and Go Banking Rates, before using a number of articles which highlighted their estimated worth.

We got our celebrity-owned investment firms from Floww and AfroTech, before using crunch base to reveal the number of investments and exits each investment firm had made. 

All currencies were converted on the 11th of August 2022.