Bloomberg reported that the founders of the celebrity-backed shopping app knew for months that it was claiming affiliate commission on purchases it had not driven. Phia says the features causing the misattribution were removed on 7 July and that it is reviewing every transaction.
In the newsPhoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni reportedly knew Phia was 'cookie stuffing' for months Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni's Phia raises $35M to 'make shopping fun again' Serena Williams Is Looking To Fund The Next Trillion-Dollar Company The Rise Of The Athlete Investing Collective 'No one was coming to save me': How Reese Witherspoon built a $900 million company from a problem Hollywood wouldn't fix InStudio Ventures Launches $50 Million Sports Investing Fund Anchored By NFL Team Stakes Beauty powerhouse e.l.f. snaps up Hailey Bieber's Rhode in $1B blockbuster deal Meghan Markle has made another angel investment Turns Out, Kerry Washington is an Angel (Investor) Kim Kardashian's latest venture? A private equity firm in Boston. Joylux lands $4.5M to grow women's sexual health product company backed by Halle Berry How celebrities became VCs and VCs became celebrities Hollywood angels: Here are the celebrities who are also star VCs Actor and director Olivia Wilde launches a VC firm
Celebrity investing, in the news
The best reporting on the famous names backing startups — curated, and always linked back to the original source so you can read it in full.
The AI shopping app raised $35M led by Notable Capital, with Khosla Ventures and returning backer Kleiner Perkins, taking it to $43M raised in total. Its earlier round drew celebrity money from Kris Jenner, Sara Blakely and Sheryl Sandberg.
Serena Williams has rebranded Serena Ventures as Starfire Ventures, with the stated goal of backing a future trillion-dollar business and a portfolio that still prioritizes women and underrepresented founders.
How professional athletes are moving from one-off endorsements to pooled, professionally managed funds such as the $500M CHAMP vehicle, with 250-plus athlete co-owners taking real equity stakes in consumer companies.
A profile of how Reese Witherspoon built Hello Sunshine into a roughly $900M media company by financing female-led stories the industry overlooked, and what her approach says about celebrity-built businesses.
Danny Cortenraede's InStudio Ventures raised a $50M fund backing sports-tech startups plus small stakes in NFL and F1 teams, with professional athletes making up about 65% of its limited partners.
e.l.f. Beauty agreed to buy Hailey Bieber's three-year-old skincare brand Rhode for up to $1B. Bieber stays on as chief creative officer as the brand expands into Sephora.
Meghan Markle joined the $63M Series B round for Midi Health, a virtual care platform for women in menopause, in her latest disclosed startup investment.
A look at how actress Kerry Washington puts personal capital into early-stage startups led by women and founders from marginalized groups, including wedding-planning service Cheersy.
A profile of SKKY Partners, the Boston-based private equity firm Kim Kardashian co-founded with former Carlyle executive Jay Sammons to buy stakes in consumer and media brands.
Women's health company Joylux raised $4.5M and named actor-investor Halle Berry as a backer and partner, tying the round to Berry's menopause-focused wellness brand Respin.
A feature tracing how entertainers from Ashton Kutcher to Kim Kardashian moved into venture investing over the past decade, blurring the line between Hollywood fame and Silicon Valley dealmaking.
A roundup of the entertainers who now run their own funds, including Gwyneth Paltrow's Kinship Ventures, Sara and Erin Foster's consumer fund and Olivia Wilde's Proximity. It also counts the pure angels, among them Paris Hilton with 22-plus cheques through 11:11 Media and Emma Watson in FabricNano and Hertility Health.
Wilde co-founded Proximity Ventures with Neil Sirni, Jason Mack and the musician Santigold, investing at early and growth stage across consumer and enterprise. Four investments were already done at launch, among them the biotech Pendulum Therapeutics.
Frequently asked questions
How is this list chosen?
By hand. We link reporting from named, reputable outlets about celebrities taking real equity — not paid endorsements or rumor. Every headline links straight to the original so you can read it in full.
How often is it updated?
In bursts. We add pieces as they are published and check that older links still resolve. Celebrity-investing coverage comes in waves, so the feed grows when there is real news, not on a fixed schedule.
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No. Every item links out to the original publisher. We summarize each in a sentence and send you to the source to read it yourself.