Last year, Sound Ventures, a nine-year-old venture firm based in Beverly Hills, California, led by general partners Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary and Effie Epstein, launched a new $265 million AI fund that has made major investments in large-scale language models. Announced. Companies include OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face.
In reality, the plan was to invest in only six companies. It was a risky but potentially lucrative bet on the team’s future vision. The technology talent needed and the capital needed to cover computing costs make it the biggest winner in the AI space. Few and huge.
Sound subsequently raised more money from the same fund. They also seem to have stuck to their mission, judging by the few deals they’ve publicly revealed in 2024, and they’re excited to host all three deals at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 to explain their strategy along with the trends they’re rightly tracking. now.
Kutcher has transitioned between the worlds of acting and investing more seamlessly than anyone else in Hollywood, beginning his entrepreneurial path in 2010 when he founded A-Grade Investments with talent manager and business partner Guy Oseary. He invested early in Airbnb. Uber has helped solidify its reputation as a company that makes the right deals at the right time.
The pair founded Sound Ventures in 2014, joining Epstein a few years later to complement his skills. Epstein previously led global strategy at Marsh, a Marsh & McLennan subsidiary. She also served as SVP of Planning and Head of Investor Relations at iHeartMedia, and prior to that she worked in business development at Clear.
Epstein also previously worked in investment banking in the energy sector, bringing with him a wealth of experience and contacts.
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