Sound Ventures, a fund co-founded by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary, has filed paperwork indicating plans to raise a third fund at $150 million. Notably, the firm filed paperwork for the same total in 2018 for its second fund.
The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans to raise a new fund. Sound Ventures was born to write bigger and later-stage checks, or at a minimum, be stage-agnostic. Despite Kutcher’s fame and high-profile stakes, the firm has operated somewhat quietly in the recent past.
On the firm’s website, it states that it has a fund dedicated to the “next generation of clean, circular, and sustainable businesses” titled SOUNDWaves. It’s unclear whether today’s filing is for SOUNDWaves or Sound Ventures’ main fund, or if those two have been combined under a new direction for the firm.
In 2018, Kutcher noted his love for scooters, instead of cars, on the TechCrunch Disrupt Stage. “There are cars parked everywhere! It’s ridiculous! They’re clogging the roads, they’re making it impossible to get anywhere you want to go,” Kutcher said. Notably, Sound Ventures invested in Bird, which this week announced its discussions to go public via SPAC.
Portfolio news continued this year when Root, an Ohio-based car insurance business, went public (and got a warm reception).
Beyond micro-mobility and insurance, Sound Ventures is looking for opportunities in fintech, enterprise, govtech and medtech infrastructure markets. The firm has invested in companies including Robinhood and Gusto.
The new fund filing come as Sound Ventures’ team continues to grow. In 2017, Sound Ventures hired Effie Epstein, who was leading global strategy at Marsh, to be the firm’s managing partner and COO. Epstein’s hire came as Sound Ventures itself looked to evolve past just consumer investors. Other hires include growth investor Susan Su, who led growth marketing at Stripe, and chief sustainability and strategy officer Katherine Keating, who previously clocked time at VICE Media and Maverick Management.
