Ashton Kutcher Invests in Dwolla
The celebrity and tech investor backs a smartphone payment company.
For his latest tech project, celebrity investor Ashton Kutcher looked past Silicon Valley … and ended up in his native Iowa.
Kutcher—one of the most highly-paid figures in Hollywood—invested an undisclosed amount of money in Des Moines-based start-up Dwolla as part of the company’s recent $5 million funding round, The Des Moines Register said. The actor’s involvement in the mobile payment platform was kept secret until Tuesday.
The money came via Kutcher firm A-Grade Investments, which has also backed Foursquare and Path among other companies.
Dwolla has the potential to disrupt the financial system and employ “hundreds of people within the next couple of years,” Kutcher told the Register.
In addition to funding, Kutcher offered feedback to employees during his visit to Dwolla headquarters on Monday, the paper said—although Betabeat found some of his responses, um, cryptic.
Ben Milne, founder of Dwolla, told the Register he talks to Kutcher monthly via Skype—another company Kutcher has money in. –John McDermott
Photo via JD Lasica.
