During every economic boom, there are startup investors who appear on the scene from new corners. Some churn out; others earn the respect of the old guard over time.<\/p>\n
Jake Paul would be happy to be in the latter camp. Then again, the 24-year-old didn\u2019t become a social media star by being conventional. Little wonder that Paul is now jumping into venture capital with an outfit that\u2019s branded the Anti Fund<\/a>. Newly formed with serial entrepreneur Geoffrey Woo,\u00a0the endeavor is traditional in some ways but has a decidedly different point of view, say the two.<\/p>\n Some of the basics: Anti Fund is not a discrete pool of capital but is instead using AngelList\u2019s Rolling Funds platform, which enables investors to raise money through a quarterly subscription from interested backers. Among those who\u2019ve already committed capital are Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz.<\/p>\n Why choose a rolling fund instead of a traditional fund? For one thing, Paul and Woo were drawn to its Rule 506(c) structure, which enables issuers to broadly solicit and generally advertise an offering. Because Anti Fund plans to focus largely on consumer-focused opportunities and next-generation creator platforms in particular, it wanted to be \u201cable to promote and advertise our fund,\u201d says Woo, who most recently founded a nutrition-based food and beverage company<\/a>\u00a0and earlier in his career sold a company<\/a> to Groupon.<\/p>\n Paul related wants to ensure his fans can get involved if they want. \u201cI have followers are different reasons, and they want to be involved in what I\u2019m doing. If they\u2019re involved in our fund, then that\u2019s more people rooting for us and our portfolio companies to win. We almost create this army that\u2019s pushing all of these companies forward.\u201d<\/p>\n As for check sizes, Anti Fund plans to invest between $100,000 and $1 million in one to two startups every quarter. The goal, says Paul, is to be the \u201cbiggest rolling fund on AngelList,\u201d investing \u201caround $10 million to $20 million a year.\u201d<\/p>\n Anti Fund is just the newest effort to come from the world of social media influencers. As we reported earlier this month<\/a>, the management company of another YouTube star, MrBeast, has dived into the world of venture capital with a $20 million fund it assembled with commitments from social media creators. Dispo, a photo-sharing app cofounded by YouTube star David Dobrik also attracted widespread attention<\/a> and funding earlier this year.<\/p>\n A new startup called Creative Juice<\/a> just raised funding, too, to provide equity-based financing<\/a> to YouTube creators. MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is among its investors. (It make a lot of sense, suggests Woo, who says that Anti Fund believes firmly that \u201cindividuals will become their own media channels.\u201d)<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of creators with newfound wealth \u2014 a lot of YouTubers or Instagram models \u2014 don\u2019t necessarily know what to do with their money,\u201d says Paul, who has already diversified into boxing, making his professional boxing debut last year. \u201cI\u2019m trying to lead the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither Paul nor Woo is new to startup investing. Woo has invested in roughly 20 startups on his own, including Paribus, an email widget that saved consumers money and that was acquired<\/a> by Capital One. Paul, meanwhile, previously cofounded another small venture outfit called TGZ Capital<\/a> that he says participated in the funding rounds of 15 startups.<\/p>\n One of these is Quip<\/a>, a seven-year-old oral care company that has raised $62 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. Another company backed by Paul is Triller<\/a>, a social video app that briefly became the most-downloaded free app in the App Store last summer<\/a> when bigger rival TikTok was facing an uncertain future in the U.S.<\/p>\n Triller has since lost enough of that momentum that talk of going public via a special purpose acquisition vehicle has yet to lead to a tie-up, six months after the company reportedly began exploring the possibility<\/a>. Still, as a stakeholder, Paul is keeping it in the headlines, including by providing it with exclusive rights to stream a\u00a0pay-per-view boxing match<\/a> between himself with former MMA wrestler Ben Asken on April 17.<\/p>\n Interestingly, it\u2019s because Paul moved from L.A. to Miami to train for the fight that he met Woo, a Californian who visited Miami this past January for what was supposed to be a weekend trip and wound up staying. The two say they happened to hit it off at a tech event and, after establishing they had mutual friends, connected over their interest in performance nutrition, with Paul investing in Woo\u2019s newest company, HVMN.<\/p>\n Last month, they decided to partner on Anti Fund, too.<\/p>\n Whether the two succeed as business partners will take time to learn. Certainly, they both have a strong work ethic. Woo has started three companies since graduating from Stanford with a computer science degree. Though Paul makes what seems an inordinate amount of money for creating YouTube videos, he has created thousands of them in order to amass his more than 20 million followers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also clear that, as with his social media career, Paul is taking boxing seriously<\/a>. During his most recent fight, in November, he knocked out<\/a> former NBA player Nate Robinson in the second round. His first boxing match, against fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib in January of last year, also ended in a knockout just minutes into the fight.<\/p>\n Many professional athletes see the fights as mere stunts, given Paul\u2019s famous made-for-video antics, from a short-lived marriage<\/a>, to disregarding<\/a> the concerns of neighbors in West Hollywood, to being charged by police last June for criminal trespass and unlawful assembly<\/a> connected with the looting of an Arizona mall.<\/p>\n An obvious risk is that the best deal-makers in the world will see Anti Fund as a stunt, too, or else that something that Paul says or does will ruffle feathers. As industry watchers know, investors\u2019 excitement over Dobrik\u2019s Dispo dissipated quickly<\/a> after Business Insider first detailed<\/a> various accusations of misconduct against members of the Dobrik\u2019s online squad, including an accusation of rape that allegedly took place during a video shoot.<\/p>\n Paul, who finished high school online in order to pursue a career as an influencer, is well aware of the Dobrik scandal. It\u2019s because he has grown up in plain view, in fact, that he\u2019s not concerned about something from his past threatening his future.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely [risky to be in my position]. Your life is put on display when you choose to be a celebrity and specifically a vlogger. But because I\u2019ve lived online, everyone\u2019s seen everything already,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He also thinks that \u201cVCs and people in the business world understand more and more how to work\u201d with influencers and other celebrities who have enormous followings and are bringing them along as their careers evolve. \u201cAt the end of the day,\u201d he says of business dealings, \u201cif someone is a good person and you have a relationship established with them, that\u2019s what really matters.\u201d<\/p>\n Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/VLuuVd2Q2D0\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During every economic boom, there are startup investors who appear on the scene from new corners. Some churn out; others earn the respect of the old guard over time. 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