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Age: 36 years old
When Priyanka Chopra Jonas embarked on investing in the Bumble dating and social media app, she did a little more than just signing a check – she became her face when she brought it. In India, in December, she became a brand ambbadador, worked on advertising creatives and played a role in them.
It was the same with her first investment, at the School of Holberton School of Software Engineering coding, where she was a part. NE-YO, Grammy-winning artist and recipient of Singer and Grammy Awards, has been instrumental in inspiring African Americans to apply at Holberton, and Chopra Jonas badociates with the school to even inspire the women.
Eight years after leaving Westwards, first with a career as a singer and then an actress in Hollywood, Chopra Jonas, 36, is now taking her first steps in the world of investment, bringing her fame and skills to his brand new businesses.
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After launching and having managed his career in the West, Anjula Acharia has become an entrepreneur and investor who seems to have interested Chopra Jonas as well. "I had probably invested in twenty or so consumer companies founded by women. Priyanka and I were talking on the phone and she was asking questions. Before, I met with creators of a direct cosmetics company to consumers and she gave me her comments. I asked her if she wanted to examine companies with me, "recalls Acharia, who leads only Chopra Jonas' career abroad.
She adds that Chopra Jonas' comments, derived from marketing and the opportunities they could take advantage of for the product, were revealing. "That's what could work for a founder. When you take money from someone, you do not just take money, you take ideas, experience, knowledge and contacts, "says Acharia to Forbes India of Silicon Valley. Both are exploring other investment and business opportunities.
Chopra Jonas, who claims to focus on technology companies for the time being, discusses investing in two ways. "First of all, I like to discover the feeling that reigns around society. Second, I like to see if the product or service is something that I would use … if it could fill a market gap or it could disrupt something that already exists, she said, adding that she takes advice from different people. "I definitely make sure with Anjula, my manager, because she is also a venture capital company. I also like to discuss it with my friends and the people I know who are in technology.
Chopra Jonas belongs to a rare breed of celebrities, especially women, who have supported technology companies. At the global level, actors Leonardo DiCaprio (MindMaze and Qloo) and Ashton Kutcher (Airbnb and Spotify) have strong portfolios, Beyonce has invested in a technology startup that allows you to preorder concert products and Tyra Banks has proceeded to investments in The Muse and ShopTap industries. In India, the numbers are even lower.
" When you take money … you also take glimpses, experiences, contacts. "
Anjula Acharia, entrepreneur turned investor
Explaining the marginal presence of celebrities as technology investors, Rutvik Doshi, general manager of Inventus Capital Partners, a venture capital fund based in the Silicon Valley and India says, "Celebrities invest in spaces or businesses they understand.There are very few technology companies that accept celebrities as investors." They do it only if they feel that they can take advantage of the celebrity for building the brand. "That's what Bumble and Holberton are betting on.
" When you're a public person and you're clinging At a company, you have the opportunity to present it to even greater numbers of consumers because you can leverage the platform you have and give it a face that will travel, "says Jonas Chopra [19659010]
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Chopra Jonas is very familiar with the promotion and marketing of brands: she was a brand ambbadador for certain Garnier products (from L & # 39; s team). Oréal) and, since December 2016, is a global ambbadador for Pantene from P & G. And she seems to add value to her investments – she is a global consultant for Bumble and a member of Holberton 's board of directors.
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"NE-YO played a determining role in the Inspiration from blacks and Africans pursuing careers in software engineering at Holberton. We wanted to find a talent that could also inspire women. It turns out that a very good friend of the school, Anjula Acharia, was also the head of Priyanka. Anjula and Priyanka have long been defending women and girls, so our school mission and personal missions are perfectly aligned. Priyanka was eager to join Holberton as soon as she got to know the school and was a terrific partner, "Sylvain Kalache, co-founder of Holberton School, wrote in an e-mail. Kalache and his co-founder, Julien Barbier, created the school to promote diversity in technology education and make it financially accessible. To do this, they made the program free and tuition-free until students began to work in well-paying jobs.
"I am a big fan of technology, new ideas," says Chopra Jonas, who aspired to become an aeronautical engineer before becoming Miss World in 2000.
The data show that, in the United States alone, 14% of software engineers are women. As in Holberton, where she contributed to the democratization of technology education, it was Bumble's focus, focused on women, that enabled her to participate in the application. "Bumble is an accessory for Indian women who want to have their say or choice in their lives. Most of them do not have a choice, "says Chopra Jonas, of the social media application that allows women to take the first step. "It was one of those major breakthroughs that I believe could have potential in India."
US entrepreneur Whitney Wolfe Herd founded Bumble in December 2014, several months after leaving Tinder, citing badual harbadment of co-founder Justin Mateen. Herd and Tinder settled the case amicably for an undisclosed amount, without admitting their guilt.
After leaving Tinder, she was the victim of numerous online abuses. "In 2014, I was at my lowest level and I was experiencing seemingly endless online abuse on the part of strangers. I did not want anyone to feel what I was feeling and know that it is necessary for women to be able to connect online safely, "said Herd, 28, who met Chopra Jonas at A dinner at Bumble Bizz with Acharia. Chopra Jonas immediately stated that she wanted to bring the application to India, she recalls.
In addition to the ability to search for romantic partners, Bumble also offers features such as Bumble Bizz to facilitate business communications and networking, and a BFF mode to search for friends. It has more than one million new users (users) in India and, in December 2018, had generated $ 220 million worldwide.
But the good start of Bumble is not necessarily synonymous with success in a market like India, where Tinder is the leader. "Most VCs do not look at No. 2," says Doshi. The Indian market is unique, with dating apps such as Tinder and marital apps such as BharatMatrimony and Shaadi.com, among others. "There is no room for anything in between," says Doshi.
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Chopra Jonas was at the peak of his career in India and Hollywood was nowhere on his radar when Acharia signed it in 2010. " I do not think she really thought about it. She was based in India and she was wondering why go to a new country where you do not know anyone and start all over again, "said Acharia, recalling that it had taken a long time to convince her. "I thought it would take a year to have a real conversation with her," she says.
Even when she managed to convince her, the time she spent from Priyanka was barely 20 days a year. "To enter Hollywood, you must be here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."
Chopra Jonas' trip to the United States began with American record producer Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of Interscope Records, which produced the first American single of Chopra. "In My City", with rapper will.i.am. Another "Exotic" single starring Pitbull followed in 2013. She was also an ambbadador for the Guess brand before landing a television role in prime time for Quantico . She has also played in three Hollywood movies.
In the midst of all this, Chopra Jonas founded his production company Purple Pebble Pictures (PPP) in 2013. The difference with his Bollywood peers – such as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan, who had also a production. houses is that she decided to focus on regional cinema. "When the company was founded, Bollywood did not participate very much in regional cinema. For me, it was to chart a new path in this space. There is so much untapped potential in regional cinema … stories to technicians and actors. Purple Pebble was my way of reducing the gap, "says Chopra Jonas, who checks stories and scripts. "Regarding the choice of films we make or even the font used on a poster, I actively participate," she adds.
While her mother, Dr. Madhu Chopra, is the director of the company, Sandeep Bhargava is also the CEO, who is responsible for logistics and operations. Bhargava, who was previously chief of operations at UTV and launched Studio 18 ( a division of Viacom18, part of the Network 18 group, to which Forbes India belongs ), is also an advisor to the Sanjay Dutt for his production house. "Although Chopra wants to promote regional cinema, it has also understood that a production house must be financially viable," said Bhargava, adding that she was very involved in making a film . "She reads the scripts and takes a call during the casting. When the film is projected on the ground, we make a point of sending him the rushes every week and she gives her point of view.
PPP has nine films on display this year. "It is planned to make it a mini studio and install it in regional cinema before attacking Bollywood," says Bhargava. In 2019, PPP will also expand its activities beyond movies to create Web series for platforms such as Netflix. Bhargava says that at least 80% of the films produced by them have been profitable.
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A successful entrepreneur must be ambitious, aggressive and take risks. And if it's about content commerce, the risk is higher, says Bhargava. "This is the only way to make big bets and Priyanka has all these qualities," he says.
As an actor, Chopra Jonas is no stranger to taking risks. Whether it is Aitraaz (2004), playing an autistic girl in Barfi! (2012), or the warrior woman Kashibai in Bajirao Mastani (2015), she showed her versatility on the screen. Look at the risks that she took for roles in Barfi! and Aitraaz in its infancy. The actresses of today would like such roles, "said Vajir Singh, editor of the specialized magazine BoxOfficeIndia .
However, Inventus Doshi warns: "Celebrities who already have a successful career must believe in the companies in which they invest or work. It's the only way for them to give them 100% of the time and effort. "
Chopra Jonah seems to be on this front. "I came as a believer more than anything else," she says of Bumble. "Whether I'm an investor or an advisor, all you can fork as much as you want, but when I was sitting at that dinner, I was like wow, it's great, I wish I had it at first out, when I had just moved to Mumbai, "she says.
The actor turned investor produces nine films in 2019, writes a book, plays in two films, invests in two companies, approves several brands and makes trips to Unicef (she was named national ambbadador of Unicef in 2010). Her quest, she says, "consists in doing many things and being excellent in all these things."
This is something Aharia says he saw Chopra Jonas do throughout his career. "When I met Priyanka in London, she was wearing a Prada bag and was wearing a Zara scarf. I told him that you are the only person I know who wears anything from Prada and Zara. And she said, "You must be able to mix your brand, you have to play at all levels, you have to be everywhere." "
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(This article appears in the March 15, 2019 issue of Forbes India, buy our tablet version at Magzter.com To visit our archives, click here.)
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