A-Grade Investments is a

venture capital firm Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...

founded in 2010 by actor

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a S ...

, entertainment manager

Guy Oseary Guy Harley Oseary ( he, גיא עוזרי; born October 3, 1972) is an Israeli-American talent manager and writer. His clients include Madonna, U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Biography Guy Oseary was born on October 3, 1972, in Jerusale ...

, and billionaire investor

Ron Burkle Ronald Wayne Burkle (born November 12, 1952) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner of The Yucaipa Companies, LLC, a private investment firm that specializes in U.S. companies in the distribution, logistics, food, ...

to invest in technology start-up companies. The company is headquartered in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Founding and partners

, and

had invested in private equity deals individually, then, in 2010, formed A-Grade Investments to invest in technology startups as a group. In 2012, Kutcher, Oseary and Burkle raised additional capital A-Grade from several billionaires, including

David Geffen David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American business magnate, producer and film studio executive. He co-created Asylum Records in 1971 with Elliot Roberts, Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and DreamWorks SKG in 199 ...

and

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to ''Forbes'', and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 ''Forbes'' 400 list ...

. On May 1, 2013, onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC, Kutcher and Oseary confirmed rumors that the fund was valued at over $100 million. In March 2016, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' published a comprehensive article on A-Grade Investments, entitled "How Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Built A $250 Million Portfolio With Startups Like Uber And Airbnb," with Kutcher appearing on the cover of the magazine, which became the most-widely read issue in ''Forbes''’ 99-year history. The Forbes article states that the team turned $30m into $250m.

Investments

Among its portfolio companies, A-Grade has invested in

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

, Shazam,

Couple Couple or couples may refer to : Basic meaning *Couple (app), a mobile app which provides a mobile messaging service for two people *Couple (mechanics), a system of forces with a resultant moment but no resultant force *Couple (relationship), tw ...

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

, Muse, and

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( ), based in San Francisco, California, operates an online marketplace focused on short-term homestays and experiences. The company acts as a broker and charges a commission from each booking. The company was founded in 2008 b ...

. The firm mainly takes part in Seed and Series A rounds. The firm’s primary targets are consumer-focused businesses that change the way consumers share information, or that disrupt traditional marketplaces. In a 2011 interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Kutcher said, “I look for companies that solve problems in intelligent and friction-free ways and break boundaries.” In a 2013 interview with ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', Kutcher said, “If we can create efficiencies in that which is mundane, then we accelerate our paths to happiness. The companies that will ultimately do well are the companies that chase happiness. If you find a way to help people find love, or health or friendship, the dollar will chase that.”

Exits

* Katango, acquired, 2011 *

GroupMe GroupMe is a mobile group messaging app owned by Microsoft. It was launched in May 2010 by the private company GroupMe. In August 2011, GroupMe delivered over 100 million messages each month and by June 2012, that number jumped to 550 million. I ...

, acquired, 2011 *

Socialcam Socialcam was a mobile social video application for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone, that was launched March 7, 2011 and ended October 28, 2015. It allowed users to capture and share videos online and on mobile, as well as via Facebook, Twitter ...

, acquired, 2012 * Bufferbox, acquired, 2012 *

Summly Nicholas D'Aloisio (born 1 November 1995) is a British computer programmer and internet entrepreneur. He is the founder of Summly, a mobile app which automatically summarises news articles and other material, which was acquired by Yahoo for $30M, ...

, acquired, 2013 * Interaxon (Muse) *

Nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

, acquired, 2014 * Gyft, acquired, 2014 *

SmartThings SmartThings Inc. is an American home automation company headquartered in Mountain View, California with a software development center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 2012, it focuses on the development of eponymous automation software and a ...

, acquired, 2014

References

External links

* {{Private equity and venture capital Venture capital firms of the United States Companies based in Los Angeles Financial services companies established in 2010 Private equity firms of the United States 2010 establishments in California