Actor, singer and now businesswoman, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is using her celebritydom to improve lives at the intersection of technology and feminism
Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Actor & Entrepreneur
Age: 36
When Priyanka Chopra Jonas got on board as an investor in dating and social media app Bumble, she did a little more than just sign a cheque—she became its face when she brought it to India in December, becoming the company’s brand ambassador, working on the creatives for the ads, and starring in them.
It was the same with her first investment, at coding education school Holberton School of Software Engineering, where she was part of a $8.2 million funding round that closed last April. Singer and Grammy Award-winning artist NE-YO has been instrumental in inspiring African-Americans to apply at Holberton, and Chopra Jonas is partnering with the school to similarly inspire women.
Eight years after she started her move Westwards, first with a singing career and then acting in Hollywood, Chopra Jonas, 36, is now taking baby steps into the world of investing, bringing her celebritydom and her skills to her newest endeavours.
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After launching her and managing her career in the West, it is entrepreneur-turned-investor Anjula Acharia who seems to have got Chopra Jonas interested in these as well. “I had probably invested in about 20 women-founded consumer companies and Priyanka and I would be talking on the phone and she would ask about things. Once I had some creatives of a direct-to-consumer cosmetics company and she gave me feedback... I asked if she wanted to look at companies with me,” recalls Acharia, who solely manages Chopra Jonas’s career internationally.
She adds that Chopra Jonas’s feedback, from marketing and opportunities they could take advantage of for the product, was insightful. “That’s what could work for a founder. When you are taking money from someone, you’re not just taking money, you’re taking insights, experience, knowledge and contacts,” Acharia tells Forbes India from Silicon Valley. The two are looking at other investing as well as entrepreneurial opportunities.
Chopra Jonas, who says her focus is on tech companies for now, approaches investing in two ways. “First, I like to find out the sentiment around the company. Second, I like to see if the product or service is something I would use… if it could bridge a market gap or if it could disrupt something which already exists,” she says, adding that she takes advice from different people for this. “I definitely confer with Anjula, my manager, because she is also a venture capitalist (VC). I also like to discuss it with my friends and the people that I know who are in tech.”
Chopra Jonas belongs to a rare breed of celebrities, particularly women, to have backed tech companies. Globally, actors Leonardo DiCaprio (MindMaze and Qloo) and Ashton Kutcher (Airbnb and Spotify) have strong portfolios, Beyonce has invested in a tech startup that allows you to pre-order concert merchandise and Tyra Banks has invesments in The Muse and ShopTap Industries. In India, the numbers are even lower.
“ When you are taking money from someone... you’re also taking insights, experience, contacts.”
Anjula Acharia, entrepreneur-turned-investor
(This story appears in the 15 March, 2019 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)