Beyond Bollywood: a look at actor-producer Deepika Padukone’s investments
On Deepika Padukone’s 35th birthday, here’s looking at Deepika Padukone’s active investment streak in the startup and business world.
That Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone is one to take risks shows in the wide variety of characters she has portrayed over the years and when eventually turned producer with Chhapaak, a movie based on the real-life story of acid attack survivor, Laxmi Agarwal. Since the last few years, she has been moonlighting as an active investor in various startups.
In 2017, Deepika launched KA Enterprises, headed by former investment banker Nitin Kanchan, to streamline all her investment activities. Within 18 months of setting up the firm, the actor has reportedly invested in furniture lending startup and beauty marketplace as well.
As with her movies, her portfolio of investments in startups reflect a diverse and interesting mix.
On her 35th birthday, here is tracing the journey of Deepika Padukone’s involvement in the startup and business world:
Deepika is an investor in yoghurt brand Epigamia
May 2019: Deepika Padukone donned the investor hat when she infused an undisclosed investment in Drums Food International and became its brand ambassador, partner, and strategic advisor as well. This was part of the startup’s Series C round led by Verlinvest, DSG Consumer Partners, and Danone Manifesto Ventures.
June 2019: The following month, the actor made an interesting turn by investing in Bengaluru-based spacetech startup Bellatrix Aerospace. Deepika participated in an investment deal worth $3 million in the IISc-incubated startup’s pre-Series A round. Led by IDFC-Parampara, StartupXseed, Karsemven Fund, and Survam Partners, the round also saw participation from GrowX Ventures, and the incubators CIIE and SINE from IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Bombay, respectively.
September 2019: Deepika Padukone’s investment office, KA Enterprises led an angel round of investment in electric vehicle mobility startup . This has boosted the startup to add 100 smart charging stations for vehicles. Other entities like JITO Angel Network, Kalpavriksh Trust, Survam Partners were also on board as investors.
March 2020: Within a year of her involvement with Drums Food International, the parent company of , she again invested Rs 1.05 crore in the brand last year. The actor plays a key role in building brand awareness for Epigamia’s range of 21 different products.
November 2020: Learning and community platform is the latest startup to join Deepika Padukone Family Office’s coveted portfolio of startups. It participated in the startup’s seed funding round of $3.2 million led by venture capital firms Lightspeed and Elevation.
The startup offers courses in various non-academic skills like music by Neha Kakkar and comedy by Biswa Kalyan Rath. Deepika said she wished she had access to such platforms while growing up.