Actor-singer-filmmaker Priyanka Chopra is now a tech investor too. She has recently joined two start-ups, Holberton School and Bumble.
“A new chapter for me! I am so excited to partner with Bumble and Holberton School as an investor. I’m honoured to join two companies that strive to expand gender diversity in the tech space, and make a social impact for the greater good... let’s do this,” Priyanka tweeted on Thursday.
Holberton School - a coding education company
Anjula Acharia, Priyanka's manager, introduced her to tech investing. Acharia is investor who spent time as an entrepreneur-in-residence and partner at Trinity Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. She and Priyanka have been working together since 2010.
Her first project as a start-up investor is getting involved in tech start-up Holberton School, a coding education company. Priyanka recently toured the San Francisco home of her new portfolio company. The school uses projects and group learning, instead of more traditional courses, to teach software development.
The Bollywood actor will join the company’s board of advisers. She aims to offer support to Holberton’s mission to educate people from underprivileged backgrounds.
Founded in 2015, Holberton teaches students to code without charge. The school then charges 17 per cent of the students' paycheque for three-and-a-half years after they graduate. All of its graduates have found jobs. Priyanka’s investment is part of an $8.2 million round of funding for Holberton that closed in April.
“You just hang out and you’re learning, it's amazing,” the actor said. “Geeks are taking over the world. If they haven’t already,” she told NY Times.
To help launch dating app Bumble in India
Her second investment is in Bumble. Bumble is a dating and social media app founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd. Priyanka plans to help promote Bumble’s launch in India in the coming months. Herd told CNN that Priyanka had told her months ago that “Indian women needed Bumble”.
The app will also introduce a safety feature for women before entering the market.
“It was clear then we shared a passion for empowering young women on a global level. From there we began architecting a plan to partner and launch Bumble in India," Herd added. Bumble will launch in India by the year end. It will be launched in both Hindi and Hinglish and will be available on iOS and Android.
Effort to help change tech industry’s gender disparity
With this, the Bollywood star has joined the club of celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio, who have invested in tech start-ups too. Although celebs like Tyra Banks, Beyoncé and Demi Lovato have invested in start-up deals, the female investors' number remains low.
Priyanka's investments aim to bend heavily towards companies with an element of social impact, and companies founded by women. She has been working with Unicef as an advocate for children since 2006.
“If one day, because of Priyanka, it became 100 percent women, I’d be cool with that,” Acharia told NY Times. Priyanka mentioned that although she did not know how many deals she would get involved with, she, however, definitely wants to build a portfolio.
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