Ashton Kutcher is leaving Sound Ventures, the firm he co-founded with Guy Oseary 11 years ago, to start a new venture capital firm with Morgan Beller, according to TechCrunch. The new firm will target early-stage investments in AI infrastructure, energy, and deep tech, areas where Kutcher believes the next generation of transformative companies will be built.
Strategic Shift to Early-Stage Investing
The split is partly strategic. Sound Ventures has drifted toward later-stage deals over the years, while Kutcher wants to return to backing founders at the earliest stages. The new firm’s name has not been disclosed, and neither has its fund size.
Kutcher's decision reflects a broader trend in venture capital: many investors who built reputations on large growth-stage funds are now moving back to the early-stage trough. The rationale is that the most asymmetric returns come from identifying nascent technologies and visionary founders before the market validates them. For Kutcher, this means doubling down on the infrastructure and energy companies that will underpin the AI revolution, rather than competing in the crowded later-stage rounds where check sizes often reach hundreds of millions of dollars.
Beller’s Background and Expertise
Beller brings a resume that spans some of the most prominent names in technology and venture capital. She co-led the creation of Libra, Meta’s cryptocurrency project that was later renamed Diem and eventually shut down. She then spent roughly three years as a partner at Andreessen Horowitz before joining NFX as a general partner. Her experience in crypto, payments, and network effects will complement Kutcher's consumer tech and entertainment instincts.
Beller's work on Libra, though the project was ultimately abandoned, gave her deep insights into regulatory hurdles and the infrastructure required for decentralized systems. At Andreessen Horowitz, she invested across web3, fintech, and AI, building a portfolio that included early-stage companies in decentralized finance and enterprise software. Her tenure at NFX further honed her focus on pre-seed and seed rounds, where the new firm intends to operate.
Kutcher’s Investing Track Record
Kutcher’s track record as a technology investor has long outpaced his Hollywood reputation. Sound Ventures backed OpenAI and Anthropic before either company became a household name, alongside Brex, Gusto, and World Labs, the AI company founded by Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li. Stanford finance professor Ilya Strebulaev praised Kutcher’s investing record on X after the news broke, calling it one of the strongest in venture capital over the past decade.
Kutcher's transition from actor to investor began in the early 2010s when he co-founded A-Grade Investments, which placed bets on companies such as Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, and Pinterest. Those investments generated billions in returns, establishing Kutcher as a serious venture player. In 2014, he and Oseary launched Sound Ventures, initially focusing on early-stage deals but gradually moving into growth stages as the fund scaled. Over the years, Sound Ventures has managed more than one billion dollars in assets, with investments spanning enterprise software, fintech, and consumer platforms.
Kutcher's ability to identify transformative technology early has earned him a reputation as one of the most strategic celebrity investors. Unlike many Hollywood figures who merely lend their names to funds, Kutcher has been deeply involved in due diligence and portfolio company support. His relationship with OpenAI dates back to the nonprofit's early days when AI was still a niche academic pursuit. That bet alone has yielded substantial returns, though exact figures are private.
The New Firm’s Focus: AI Infrastructure and Deep Tech
The new firm's emphasis on AI infrastructure, energy, and deep tech aligns with the most capital-intensive and defensible segments of the technology stack. AI infrastructure includes data centers, specialized chips (GPUs, TPUs, custom silicon), networking hardware, and cloud orchestration software. Energy investments target the power grids and renewable sources needed to run increasingly large AI models. Deep tech covers advanced materials, quantum computing, biotech, and robotics.
Kutcher and Beller believe that the next wave of innovation will be driven by these foundational layers rather than consumer-facing applications. This thesis mirrors the thinking of other prominent investors, such as Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz, who have dedicated entire funds to deep tech. However, the new firm hopes to differentiate itself by operating at the earliest stages and maintaining a lean team.
Competitive Landscape
The timing puts Kutcher and Beller in a crowded field. Founders Fund just closed a six billion dollar growth fund focused on AI and defence technology, Accel raised five billion dollars for late-stage AI bets, and Eclipse closed over one billion dollars for early-stage deep tech and physical industries. The first quarter of 2026 saw a record 297 billion dollars flow into startups globally.
This influx of capital has created both opportunities and risks. On one hand, the sheer volume of funding means that promising deep tech startups can raise larger rounds earlier, reducing the need for multiple follow-on rounds. On the other hand, the competition for high-quality deals has driven up valuations, making it harder for newer funds without a strong track record to win allocations. Kutcher's name recognition and past success may give the new firm an edge, but the lack of a disclosed fund size makes it difficult to assess its competitive positioning.
Several other celebrity investors have entered the deep tech space, including Will Smith's Dreamers VC and Bono's The Rise Fund, but few have Kutcher's early-stage focus or his technical understanding of AI infrastructure. His partnership with Beller, who brings institutional VC experience, could help the firm navigate the complex due diligence required for hardtech investments.
Departure from Sound Ventures
The departure is amicable, at least on paper. Kutcher will continue to advise Sound Ventures, while Oseary and Effie Epstein, Sound’s third general partner, will serve as advisers to the new firm. Sound Ventures manages more than one billion dollars in assets and will continue operating under Oseary’s leadership.
This kind of non-compete arrangement is common in the venture world when partners split to start new firms. The advisory roles ensure a smooth transition and preserve relationships with existing portfolio companies. For Sound Ventures, the loss of Kutcher's brand and deal flow is significant, but Oseary's deep network in entertainment and Epstein's operational expertise will help the firm maintain its momentum. Sound has already begun raising a new fund focused on later-stage opportunities, sources say.
Historical Context: Celebrity Investors in VC
Kutcher's move also highlights the evolving role of celebrities in venture capital. A decade ago, most celebrity investors were passive endorsers who wrote small checks without providing strategic value. Today, figures like Kutcher, Will.i.am, and Serena Williams have built credible investment track records by actively participating in due diligence, board meetings, and portfolio support. Kutcher's ability to bridge Hollywood and Silicon Valley gave Sound Ventures access to both worlds, helping portfolio companies with brand partnerships and talent acquisition.
However, the rise of deep tech investing requires a different skill set. Unlike consumer apps, deep tech companies often have long development cycles, regulatory hurdles, and technical complexity that require domain expertise. Beller's experience with Libra and her years at a16z and NFX provide the technical and institutional knowledge that can complement Kutcher's softer skills. The pairing could become a template for how celebrity investors partner with seasoned VCs to tackle complex sectors.
Implications for the AI and Deep Tech Ecosystem
The new firm's focus on AI infrastructure and energy comes at a critical time. The AI industry's explosive growth has created massive demand for computing power, leading to a shortage of data centers and energy resources. Startups building next-generation chips, cooling systems, and renewable energy solutions are attracting billions from both venture capital and strategic investors. Kutcher and Beller's thesis is that the bottleneck in AI is not algorithms but the physical infrastructure required to run them at scale.
Similarly, deep tech investments in materials science, quantum computing, and synthetic biology are essential for long-term technological progress. These areas often require patient capital and deep technical diligence, which aligns with an early-stage, hands-on approach. The new firm's ability to attract top scientific talent and provide non-monetary support—such as connections to universities and corporate partners—could determine its success.
One open question is whether the firm can compete for deals against established deep tech investors like Lux Capital, DCVC, and The Engine. These firms have decades of experience and deep networks in academia. However, Kutcher's celebrity status and Beller's operational background may open doors that traditional VCs cannot access. Additionally, the firm's unnamed status allows it to maintain flexibility until its first close.
As the venture capital industry continues to evolve, the line between entertainment and technology investing is blurring. Kutcher's latest venture represents a bet on the foundational technologies that will shape the next century. Whether the firm can carve out a niche in a crowded landscape remains to be seen, but the combination of early-stage focus, sector specificity, and complementary skills positions it to make an impact. The only certainty is that the AI and deep tech sectors will continue to attract massive capital, and the next great breakthrough may come from a startup backed by an actor and a former crypto executive.