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Influencers don鈥檛 just make money from brand deals these days. A growing number are investing in startups, both individually and by starting their own venture capital firms. The trend of traditional celebrities, like or , investing in startups has been happening for years, but it鈥檚 only more recently that social media stars have been embracing VC investing.听

From a business perspective, it makes sense. They have money to invest, connections and a big audience they can promote products and services to. From the perspective of a startup considering taking investment from an influencer, there鈥檚 the chance to reach more potential customers when a social media star is an investor and promotes a product to their millions of followers.听

Here are some of the most prominent stars to pivot to VC.

Josh Richards

doubled down on VC early into his fame as a TikToker. Richards became a venture partner at in late 2020, before starting in 2021.听

Richards launched Animal Capital with fellow stars and . Animal Capital鈥檚 $15 million fund is backed by and the Winklevoss twins and , among others.听

Richards has expressed his desire to be the .

The D鈥橝melio Family

The D鈥橝melio family, or 鈥渢he First Family of TikTok,鈥� announced earlier this month that it is starting its own venture fund, The fund, which aims to raise up to $25 million, will invest in fast-growing companies with 鈥渟trong user-end brands,鈥� . 444 Capital will invest in sectors including fintech, edtech and insurtech.听

While 444 Capital is the family鈥檚 biggest step into the world of VC, it isn鈥檛 its first foray. has invested in , a mobile-based banking app for teens. And the entire family, which includes Dixie D鈥橝melio and parents Marc and Heidi D鈥橝melio, invested in app developer .

Bryce Hall

, perhaps most known for TikTok fame and being the leader of the now-defunct creator collaborative , has made a number of personal investments in startups. According to Crunchbase data, Hall has invested in at least five startups, including seed-stage investments in homebuilding startup and money saving platform

Griffin Johnson

has invested in early-stage companies like and alongside other TikTok stars like Hall.听

Connections between many of the TikTok stars run deep. Johnson is also a co-founder of Animal Capital, alongside Richards and Noah Beck. Animal Capital hypes up its social media user reach when pitching itself to investors, .听

Johnson himself has more than 10 million followers on TikTok and more than 3 million followers on .

Noah Beck

Beck has invested in at least three startups, according to Crunchbase data, including Price.com and . He鈥檚 also the co-founder of Animal Capital.

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