The rich and powerful celebrity investors in Bollywood, Hollywood: Priyanka Chopra launches homeware line

With fame comes entrepreneurship — for a select few. Business people are those who can gauge a demand in a market and supply; in the case of stars, they can create a demand and capitalise on it. Priyanka Chopra recently decided to expand her reach and turn to enterprise.

The entrepreneur has launched a new homeware line, which glorifies Indian heritage. The actress along with her business partner Maneesh Goyal, on Wednesday, launched her new home decor brand Sona Home, after the success of her restaurant Sona, which she inaugurated in 2021. The ‘Matrix’ actor, on Wednesday, shared a special launch video of the event on her Instagram account, to which she captioned, “Launch day is here! I couldn’t be more proud to introduce you all to SONA HOME. It was challenging to come from India and make America my second home, but my journey led me to a place where I found a second family and friends. I bring a piece of India into everything I do and this is an extension of that thought. It’s awesome to be working alongside @maneeshkgoyal and our entire team in creating something so dear to our hearts and heritage.” Known as the ‘Desi Girl’, the actor never misses any chance to promote Indian culture, and with her new brand she is all set to showcase Indian style hospitality to the world.

Her earlier smart investment was in the US with start up Bumble. Chopra was present at a launch event in New York with a handful of powerful women who are leaders in business across the world, back in 2017. Here’s a look at some other celebrities who turned to enterprise. Above: Priyanka Chopra (left) and Maneesh Goyal(right).

Jared Leto Apart from being a Hollywood actor and the frontman for rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, Jared Leto is also an investor. He has close to 20 companies in his portfolio, and has invested in companies such as Modern Health Inc, Relatively Space and Nom. Leto has also founded a number of companies, such as social media management company The Hive, and live-streaming service VyRT.

Katrina Kaif launched Kay Beauty in October 2019 on Nykaa. Nykaa's Bollywood connect includes two other big names - Janhvi Kapoor is an ambassador and Alia Bhatt is an investor in the start-up turned success story.

Will Smith The ‘Bad Boys for Life’ actor is one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. He has also been active in investing. He also has his own venture capital fund, Dreamers VC, which puts the focus on tackling social issues.

In keeping with diversity in earnings, ‘Gully Boy’ star Alia Bhatt has also invested in Nykaa. The amount, like her previous StyleCracker investment, remains undisclosed. Bhatt is shrewd about her spends and a serial entrepreneur; she launched a kidswear start-up called Ed-a-mamma and is in talks over another one. Ed-a-mamma has reportedly already sold 70 per cent of the range in the six weeks since its launch – guess she’s doing something right.

Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma is known for her smart money decisions; her productions on-screen – think ‘Pari’ and ‘Bulbul’ – have done well in the OTT space. Her off-screen projects are also in a good space; she invested Rs 5 million in a Bengaluru-based insurtech startup Digit Insurance.

Deepika Padukone looks to the future – and proves it with her financial portfolio; she’s got a stake in Drums Food International, which owns Greek yoghurt brand Epigamia, space tech startup Bellatrix Aerospace and electric vehicle startup BluSmart. She’s also invested in learning and community platform FrontRow.

Ashton Kutcher is the most active Silicon Valley investor in Hollywood. Kutcher has invested more than $3 billion into startups and participated in 177 funding rounds over the past decade. He follows three rules when investing, all focused on what he sees in entrepreneurs.

Actor-turned-entrepreneur Suniel Shetty is another serial investor who’s got his name on upskilling business Sai Estate Consultants.

Shraddha Kapoor may be representing the brand MyGlamm, but she is also the face of it. MyGlamm offers a range of over 600 cruelty-free products across makeup, skincare and personal care Plus, she’s an investor in Naturedge Beverages Pvt. Ltd’s brand Shunya which brings the age-old goodness of Ayurveda into modern-day life.

He may be best known for his good works, but Bollywood actor Sonu Sood is also a good businessman. During the pandemic, he bought himself a stake in Spice Money, a subsidiary of DiGiSPICE Technologies Limited. He also became a non-executive advisory board member in Spice Capital.

Former Victoria's Secret model and famous American TV personality Tyra Banks has donned a number of different business hats since exiting the runway. She has established cosmetic brands, has invested in The Muse, which helps people figure out what to do for a living,video and greetings card company VideoGram. Recently she has launched an upscale icecream Smize cream, a phrase she developed while hosting America’s next top model. Incidentally you can grab a scoop of "Smize" in Abu Dhabi soon..!

Hrithik Roshan has been actively involved with startups even though it's not always been a direct investment in these companies. Hrithik invested into Curefit, a health and fitness start up. CureFit gives workouts a whole new meaning with a range of trainer-led, group workout classes with four categories : primary care, food, yoga and gyms. He is also the brand ambassador of the company. This company was founded by Flipkart executives Ankit Nagori and Mukesh Bansal in the year 2016.

Aamir Khan invested in a Bangalore based, online furniture rental startup Furlenco. The company competes with the likes of Rentomojo and Pepperfry. Previously, Khan had been the brand ambassador of e-commerce site Snapdeal.

Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio has spent his time off-screen accumulating a vast portfolio of business investments Leonardo DiCaprio's investment portfolio comprises an eclectic mix of ventures From virtual reality to online mattress firms.

Pop star Justin Bieber has put money into music streaming service Spotify and selfie app Shots.

Justin Timberlake has put some of his millions into the likes of social media platform Myspace and San Francisco startup Stipple, which has a platform that lets users tag people, places, and objects in an image.