Ashton Kutcher Leaves Sound Ventures to Co-Found New VC Firm With Morgan Beller

Ashton Kutcher is leaving Sound Ventures, the early-stage fund he co-founded in 2015, to co-found a new venture capital firm with Morgan Beller, according to the Wall Street Journal as cited by TechCrunch.

“Ashton Kutcher is stepping away from Sound Ventures, the venture capital firm he co-founded with Guy Oseary 11 years ago, to launch a new fund with Morgan Beller, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal”

Bitcoin World

TechCrunch reports that Kutcher’s new firm will be co-founded with Beller, who until recently was a general partner at NFX and previously co-led cryptocurrency project Libra at Meta.

Bitcoin World

The Crypto Briefing says Kutcher will depart Sound Ventures while continuing to provide advisory support, and it adds that Sound Ventures manages over $1B in assets under management.

The Crypto Briefing also says Sound Ventures raised a $240 million fund dedicated to AI investments, with positions in both OpenAI and Anthropic, and it notes Sound Ventures backed Web3 companies including Syndicate, Cryptoys, and The Fabricant.

Multiple outlets frame the new effort as an early-stage bet on AI infrastructure, energy, and deep tech, with TechCrunch saying Kutcher and Beller are focused on making early-stage investments in those areas.

TechCrunch contrasts that approach with Sound Ventures’ reputation for “category-leading AI labs,” while the Crypto Briefing says Sound Ventures built a portfolio that includes stakes in Airbnb, Uber, and a reported $30 million position in OpenAI.

Crypto Briefing

The Crypto Briefing says Beller co-led the strategy for Meta’s Libra project, later renamed Diem, and it adds that she joined NFX as a general partner in 2020 to focus on early-stage investments.

TechCrunch also reports that the split is partly due to different views on which startup stages to target, with Sound leaning toward backing companies that are already more established rather than very early-stage startups.

TechCrunch quotes Stanford finance professor Ilya Strebulaev on X, saying, "He and his fund consistently make it onto [my] rankings of top unicorn investors. An interesting case!"

“Ashton Kutcher is stepping away from Sound Ventures — the firm he co-founded with Guy Oseary 11 years ago — to start a separate VC fund, the Wall Street Journal reported”

TechCrunch

TechCrunch reports that despite leaving Sound Ventures, Kutcher will continue to serve as an adviser to the firm, and it adds that Oseary and Sound general partner Effie Epstein will advise Kutcher and Beller’s new firm.

The Crypto Briefing says Kutcher’s departure from Sound Ventures isn’t a clean break, and it states he will continue providing advisory support to the firm.

The Crypto Briefing also notes that Sound Ventures’ portfolio includes stakes in Airbnb and Uber and a reported $30 million position in OpenAI, while it describes Beller’s Libra-to-Diem experience as leaving her with an understanding of how digital payments, blockchain infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks interact.