Ashton Kutcher离开Sound Ventures，与Morgan Beller共同创办新VC基金
阅读原文· techcrunch.comAshton Kutcher离开其联合创立11年的Sound Ventures，与Morgan Beller共同筹建一家尚未命名的新VC基金。Beller此前是种子轮基金NFX的普通合伙人，曾共同领导Meta的加密货币项目Libra，并在Andreessen Horowitz担任近三年合伙人。Kutcher的退出源于与Sound在投资阶段上的分歧——Sound偏好更成熟的公司，而新基金将聚焦AI基础设施、能源和深度科技领域的早期投资。Sound曾投资Brex、Gusto，也是OpenAI、Anthropic和李飞飞World Labs的早期投资者。Kutcher将继续担任Sound顾问，Sound的Guy Oseary和Effie Epstein也将为新基金提供建议。
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 had separately heard that Kutcher was preparing to leave; the WSJ’s report confirms it and adds new detail on his plans with Beller.
The actor and investor’s new firm is being co-founded with Morgan Beller — its name hasn’t been made public yet — who until recently was a general partner at seed-focused VC outfit NFX and previously co-led cryptocurrency project Libra at Meta. Beller also spent nearly three years as a partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
Kutcher’s exit doesn’t appear to be a sign of trouble at Sound Ventures — investors more often leave firms that are underperforming, and that’s not the case here. The firm, which has backed companies like Brex and Gusto, was also an early investor in OpenAI, Anthropic, and Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs.
The split is also notable for what it signals about where AI money is heading next: Sound built its reputation on concentrated, high-conviction bets in category-leading AI labs, while Kutcher’s new fund appears to be chasing the layer underneath those companies — the infrastructure and energy that power them.
“He and his fund consistently make it onto [my] rankings of top unicorn investors. An interesting case!” Stanford finance professor Ilya Strebulaev, who tracks top-performing VCs, wrote on X.
The actor has known OpenAI’s Sam Altman since Altman founded Loopt — years before the launch of the ChatGPT maker.
Kutcher’s departure was partly due to different views on which startup stages to target for investments, with Sound leaning toward backing companies that are already more established, rather than betting on very early-stage startups, according to WSJ.
Kutcher and Beller are focused on making early-stage investments in AI infrastructure, energy, and deep tech startups — startups built around hard science and engineering breakthroughs rather than software alone.
Despite leaving Sound Ventures, Kutcher will continue to serve as an advisor to the firm. Meanwhile, Oseary and Sound general partner Effie Epstein will advise Kutcher and Beller’s new firm.