Chris Hollod is a

venture capitalist 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 ha ...

, angel investor, and advisor in

Los Angeles 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' ...

. Hollod was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Tailwind Acquisition Corp. which merged with Terran Orbital in March 2022 in a $1.8 billion deal. Over the course of his career, Hollod has completed more than 150 deals across five different investment entities, including investments in

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), packa ...

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 ...

Houzz Houzz is an American website, online community and software for architecture; interior design and decorating; landscape design and home improvement. It was founded in 2009 and is based in Palo Alto, California. History Houzz was founded as an onl ...

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 ...

Pinterest Pinterest is an American image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") on the internet using images, and on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of pinboard ...

Duolingo Duolingo ( ) is an American educational technology company which produces learning apps and provides language certification. On its main app, users can practice vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and listening skills using spaced repetition. D ...

Airtable Airtable is a cloud collaboration service headquartered in San Francisco. It was founded in 2012 by Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas. Airtable is a spreadsheet-database hybrid, with the features of a database but applied to a spre ...

Oscar Health Oscar Health, Inc. is an American health insurance company, founded in 2012 by Joshua Kushner, Kevin Nazemi and Mario Schlosser, and is headquartered in New York City. The company focuses on the health insurance industry through telemedicine, ...

Flexport Flexport Inc. is an American multinational corporation that focuses on supply chain management and logistics, including order management, trade financing, insurance, freight forwarding and customs brokerage. The company is headquartered in San ...

Casper Casper may refer to: People * Casper (given name) * Casper (surname) * Casper (Maya ruler) (422–487?), ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque * Tok Casper, first known king of Maya city-state Quiriguá in Guatemala, ruling beginning in 426 * David ...

, and

Warby Parker Warby Parker is an American online retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses, based in New York City. Warby Parker was founded as primarily online retailer, but now sells primarily (about 90%) through approximately 160 p ...

Early life

Hollod graduated summa cum laude and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

with a degree in economics. Hollod grew up in Atlanta. He worked as an investment banking associate at Wachovia Securities in Charlotte, NC, and after being laid-off during the

financial crisis of 2007-2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

, ultimately moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to work for investor

Ronald 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, ...

Career

Hollod worked with

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 ...

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

as the managing partner of their venture capital fund,

A-Grade Investments A-Grade Investments is a venture capital firm founded in 2010 by actor Ashton Kutcher, entertainment manager Guy Oseary, and billionaire investor Ron Burkle to invest in technology start-up companies. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, ...

. In 2012, A-Grade Investments raised money from David Geffen 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 ...

, among other investors. Hollod also worked for The

Yucaipa Companies The Yucaipa Companies, LLC is an American private equity firm founded in 1986 by Ronald Burkle. It specializes in private equity and venture capital, with a focus on middle-market companies, growth capital, industry consolidation, leveraged buy ...

for eight years and oversaw Ron Burkle's venture capital investments and was referred to in the press as "Burkle's right-hand man." Hollod was first introduced to the world of venture capital by working on a deal with Puff Daddy and

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...

, for their bottled water start-up, AQUAhydrate. Hollod is a founding partner of Inevitable Ventures with

D.A. Wallach D.A. Wallach (also known as D.A.) is an American musician and business executive. He is the former lead singer of the group Chester French and is currently a solo artist signed by Harvest Records, a subsidiary of Capitol Records. He is the form ...

where they invested in such companies as 8i,

Upside Foods Upside Foods (formerly known as Memphis Meats) is a food technology company headquartered in Berkeley, California, aiming to grow sustainable cultured meat. The company was founded in 2015 by Uma Valeti (CEO), Nicholas Genovese ( CSO), and Will ...

, and Thrive Market. Hollod was named one of the 32 most influential investors of 2013 (outside Silicon Valley) and received a Visionary Award in 2018. Fortune included Hollod in its "Meet the Uber Rich" article as an early investor in Uber and the LA Times published a feature on him entitled "How I Made It: A Billionaire's Right-Hand Man." He has been quoted in the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

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 ...

, and LA Times as a venture capital expert, and he has judged several start-up competitions including

Global Startup Battle Global Startup Battle was launched by Startup Weekend in 2011 during Global Entrepreneurship Week. The 2012 battle included 10,000+ participants, 1,200+ teams, taking place in 100+ cities around the world. Global Startup Battle has three phases: Fi ...

and Start-Up Weekend Los Angeles. Hollod promotes brands and entrepreneurs on his Instagram page and has written about using Instagram to source and diligence new investment opportunities. Hollod is currently the founder and managing partner of Hollod Holdings, a venture capital and advisory entity that has invested in companies such as Magic Spoon, MUD\WTR, JuneShine, AMASS, Jinx, and De Soi.

Personal

Hollod lives in Hollywood's Sunset Square neighborhood in a bungalow purchased from ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'' star Lea Michele in 2015. Hollod is writing a book entitled "Big Fish Big Pond," providing advice for millennials. Hollod collects wine and judged the Millennial Wine Competition in 2020. Hollod is engaged to fashion model, Bianca Vierra, and they have been referred to in the press as an “LA power couple."

References

External links

Inevitable Venture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollod, Chris Vanderbilt University alumni American venture capitalists Living people 1982 births