The world is getting more and more women millionaires, and many of them come from entertainment; they are actors turned moguls, they are famous tennis stars, or singers and performers.
A growing number of female celebrities are using their money to invest in others. These women are investing in causes they care about, often in startups that support sustainability and inclusivity. Their influence has boosted small startups to the big time.
Female celebrity investors aren’t just in it for the money. They are using their platforms to highlight new causes, startups and entrepreneurs they believe in.
The Celebrity Investments Index recently calculated the most successful celebrity business investors. Of the 30 most prolific investors, 10 are female. These women—largely women of color—are breaking stereotypes that only old, rich men can invest in new businesses.
While male celebrities tend to invest heavily in tech startups, female celebrities cover a wider variety of industries and causes they care about and tend to invest in more female and minority-owned businesses. And when women earn money and use that money to support other women, it creates a chain effect to build women up.
Here are the most common places female celebrity investors spend their money:
Health and Wellness
Of all celebrity-backed businesses, health and wellness has the most female investors. Over a fifth of female celebrities in the report have a wellness brand in their portfolio. Oprah Winfrey, Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow and Tyra Banks are the biggest players in the space, with 16 wellness companies each in their investment portfolios. These companies run the gamut from at-home fitness equipment to meditation apps.
One of the most successful celebrities in the wellness industry is Jessica Alba, who founded The Honest Company in 2012. The company sells organic and ethically made personal care and baby products and recently went public with a valuation of $1.4 billion. Alba donates a significant amount of proceeds from The Honest Company, including 1.5 million diapers, to Baby2baby, a nonprofit that provides necessities to families in need. Aside from The Honest Company, Alba also invested $34.3 million in Headspace, an online meditation and mindfulness platform.
Other female celebrities have backed health and wellness companies. After launching her wellness brand Goop in 2008 and seeing its growth and success, Gwyneth Paltrow invested her net worth in stocks of companies, including digital therapy company Real. Serena Williams is an investor in the organic feminine product company Lola.
Women’s Interest
Female investors tend to know what female customers are looking for. Many startups backed by female celebrities have female founders. It’s an effort to reverse a trend—women-led startups received only 2.3% of all VC funding in 2020, and the numbers are worse for Black and Hispanic founders.
Tennis star Serena Williams’s investment firm Serena Ventures has invested in more than 30 companies with a focus on women or minority entrepreneurs. Serena Ventures has backed companies including women-focused co-working space The Wing and razor company Billie. Williams has said this about investing: “When you think of Silicon Valley, you think of a lot of investments, you think it’s so exclusive, like ‘How do I get in that’ and ‘I can’t invest cause I don’t know and there’s no way in’. But we want to make a way where it has more inclusivity and more impact.” Around 60% of Williams’ investments are to startups led by women or people of color, many of which work on products or services targeted towards women.
Other celebrity investors are following suit by backing companies aimed at women. Model and TV personality Tyra Banks is a heavy investor in TheSkimm, a female-owned digital media company that sends out an easy-to-ready daily newsletter targeted at female millennials.
Many leading female investors, including Williams and actress Priyanka Chopra, are investors in Bumble, the dating app where women make the first move. Their funding has propelled the female empowerment movement in the online dating space.
Sustainable Food and Drink
Several female celebrities have invested in sustainable food companies. Early investors have helped build some of the biggest modern food brands, including Impossible Foods and Partake, while other investments are hoping to create the next wave of responsible food.
Oprah Winfrey is the world’s most successful female celebrity investor, with a net worth of $3.5 billion. One of her focus areas is food companies. Winfrey is part owner of oat drink company Oatly, which is on its way to an IPO and $10 billion valuation, and an investor and board member of the health food restaurant chain True Food Kitchen.
Singer Katy Perry is also a big investor in food companies, most notably investing in Impossible Foods in 2019 and being part of the company’s phenomenal growth. In 2020, Perry invested in Appel Sciences, a company that uses technology to make fruit last up to three times longer, thus reducing food waste. After Perry’s fundraising round, Appel was valued at $1 billion.
Madonna invested $1.5 million in Vita Coco, one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the U.S. Last year, Paltrow expanded from health and wellness into food and drink when she invested in cannabis-infused beverage company Cann. Beyonce, another prominent celebrity investor, put money into vegan food company 22 Day Nutrition.
Diverse Beauty
Often used as the face of beauty companies, many celebrity investors are backing beauty startups with inclusive product lines.
Singer Rihanna has taken a step back from music in recent years to focus on her latest hit: Fenty Beauty. She co-owns the makeup brand, which has broad inclusivity across skin tones and gender, with luxury company LVMH. Rihanna has a net worth of $550 million, making her one of America’s richest self-made women.
On the reason behind her company, Rihanna said this: “There needs to be something for a dark-skinned girl, there needs to be something for a really pale girl. You want people to appreciate the product and not feel like: ‘Aw, that’s cute, but it only looks good on her.’”
Many celebrity investors have also created inclusive beauty brands. Chopra launched Anomaly, a hair-care brand that uses bottles made from recycled materials and that is budget-friendly and eco-friendly.
These female celebrity investors are breaking the glass ceiling to support other entrepreneurs and give a voice to often overlooked groups. Their influence and investment can support the next generation of female and minority entrepreneurs creating companies that make the world a better place.
Blake Morgan is the co-host of the Be Your Own Boss Podcast with her husband Jacob Morgan. Listen to all episodes here.
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Female Celebrity Capital: Where Celebrities Are Investing And Why It Matters - Forbes
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