Who are the celebrity investors in Kerala's startups?

Do celebrities invest in startups? Yes, they do worldwide. In the Indian picture, the list of celebrity startup investors, according to media reports, includes M S Dhoni, Alia Bhat, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif and Hrithik Roshan.

The big names have long been associated with the country’s booming startup ecosystem, with them showing monetary interest in some of the promising brands across sectors. Leave them there. What about celebrities from Kerala?

Do they invest in startups from the state? There is no clear answer yet, though multiple stakeholders in the growing ecosystem suggest the celebrity quotient in the investment scenario has been going up of late.

From the Malayalam film industry, Dulquer Salmaan has been the only star who has come out as an investor recently. He identified himself as a ‘keen investor’ when he disclosed that he has invested in Ultraviolette Automotive, a Bengaluru-based startup making high-performance EV superbikes. Dulquer has also revealed that his investor portfolio included medtech and edutech.

Ecosystem observers, including founders and investors, told Onmanorama that other actors including Fahadh Faasil, Tovino Thomas and Nivin Pauly, have shown interest in startup investments in recent years. However, there has been no official confirmation or announcement on these. A leading actor who recently forayed into filmmaking has also learned to have made some investments in a couple of startups.

A tech-founder-cum-venture capitalist, preferring anonymity, said one of the leading young actors, other than Dulquer, had put his money into a startup known to him a couple of years ago.

Multiple sources in the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), the state nodal agency for the promotion of startups in the state, said that they were aware of some celebrities, including actors and directors, showing interest in some nascent companies. However, they could not confirm whether or not any deal had been sealed.

A young founder based in Kochi said he and his co-founder had initiated investment talks with a couple of female actors in Malayalam. They could not reach a deal apparently since the discussions happened at a ‘too early stage’.

Sources in Kerala’s leading angel investment networks said no celebrity from the film world had been part of their groups. “There is very little interest among celebrities in startups,” a source in one of the networks said. The founder, who had held talks with the female actors, however, was more optimistic. “It’s only a matter of time. They will soon follow the trend in other industries like Bollywood and Tollywood,” he said.

Anoop Ambika, the CEO of the KSUM, shared the youngster’s optimism. He said he was surprised to see some film stars ‘moving around’ the investor roundtable session held as part of the Huddle Global startup summit in Kovalam in November.

“I have started to think that the film fraternity has slowly started considering startups as an asset class. These are all good signs happening in the ecosystem,” he told Onmanorama. Actors Sijoy Varghese and Priyanka Nair were among those who attended the Huddle summit.

Startup Saturday is Onmanorama’s exclusive series featuring informative and inspiring stories from Kerala’s thriving startup ecosystem. The season 2 of the series will have stories exploring themes and trends from within the ecosystem.

Find the first edition of the series, where Onmanorama featured the stirring stories of 40 startups from Kerala showcasing the diversity of the ecosystem here.