Leonardo DiCaprio Joins LA Venture Fund Struck Capital as Limited Partner

Ben Bergman

Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.

Leonardo DiCaprio Joins LA Venture Fund Struck Capital as Limited Partner

Santa Monica seed-stage fund Struck Capital is adding some high-wattage Hollywood star power to its cast of limited partners. Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has made what the firm described as a "significant" investment in the fund, bringing something far more valuable than his seven figure check: The ability to open up doors for portfolio companies and attract other investors.

"It's a huge feather in our cap," said Adam Struck, the South African entrepreneur who started Struck in 2014. "It has tremendous tailwinds for every aspect of the fund."


Though this is the first time DiCaprio has backed a Los Angeles fund, he previously joined San Francisco's Princeville Capital's climate technology fund as an investor and advisor and Boston's Data Point Capital as an advisor and LP. He also invested directly in prominent startups including Allbirds, Casper, Beyond Meat and Rubicon.

"Los Angeles has a creative and innovative spirit like nowhere else, and I'm excited to be investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders in my hometown," DiCaprio said in a statement. The A-list actor commands hefty salaries and has long been among the highest paid in the industry.

Struck would not say how he came into contact with DiCaprio's investment team, only that "it's a really small sandbox and we had mutual acquaintances." Struck also declined to specify the size of DiCaprio's investment, but said the fund's minimum is $1 million and the actor wrote a check for "materially more than that."

DiCaprio, who is well known for his environmental activism, was attracted to the firm because of its goal of backing startups with a social mission, such as Aquabyte, an aquaculture startup employing computer vision and machine learning software to improve fish farming efficiency, according to Struck. The firm also recently led early-stage investments in Brainbase, Scratchpay, Mythical Games, and Sendoso and has also backed Mojo Vision, Postmates, Nutanix, Latch, Grab, and Wunder Mobility.

"We gravitate towards founders who are trying to change the world," Struck said.

As the fourth biggest seed fund in L.A., Struck is currently deploying its second fund, with $55 million in dry powder, and has $150 million in assets under management.

DiCaprio joins a long list of other celebrity startup investors includes musician Nasir "Nas" Jones (188 companies), actor Ashton Kutcher (158), and NBA Carmelo Anthony (38). Kutcher turned $30 million into $250 million as an early investor in Skype, Spotify and Airbnb. The late Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant was also active in VC, partnering with entrepreneur Jeff Stibel to form a fund in 2016.

Editor's note: The story was later clarified by Adam B. Struck, Managing Partner at Struck Capital, to reflect that while Leonardo DiCaprio is an investor in Struck Capital, the amount of the investment is undisclosed.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

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Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

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