Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Ventures takes its first outside investment from J.P. Morgan • TechCrunch

Hartbeat Ventures is participating In the first institutional investment from JP Morgan, comedian and entrepreneur Kevin Hart announced today at TechCrunch Disrupt. He made the announcement alongside JP Morgan’s head of digital investment banking and digital private markets, Michael Elanjian, and Hartbeat Ventures president and co-founder, Robert Roman.

Hartbeat Ventures, an early-stage VC firm focused on lifestyle, media, and technology, focuses on inclusion – especially financial inclusion. Part of the new fund will be allocated to support minority and underrepresented founders.

Hart said he had a bit of a hard time getting into the investment world and noted that there is a learning curve.

“I had to figure out why investing was okay,” says Hart. “To my knowledge, the investment world – well, it’s tied to the space of a scammer. You are trying to trick me out of my money. I do not believe you. I don’t give anyone my money so they can run away and do what they want – that’s my challenge. The biggest learning curve for me was understanding that an investment has a timeline attached to it and because I invested today, what does that mean I’ll get it tomorrow? “

Robert Roman at Hartbeat Ventures and Kevin Hart chat with Natasha Mascarenhas, Senior Correspondent at TechCrunch, to discuss “The Art of Inclusion” at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on October 19, 2022. Image credits: Haje Kamps / TechCrunch

Hart talked about how he’s learned that it’s important to be confident when investing and understand the world of growth. He notes that his biggest challenge is understanding that investments have a term, and it’s important to learn how the economy works and how to make your money.

He also said that he believes his team will do what is best for the company and that he has aligned himself with people who have made successful investments.

“This is not a Kevin Hart machine that Kevin Hart stands in front of and I said it had to happen and there was no other way,” Hart said. “This is the table. This is a table, where we sit and talk, we form and come up with the best ideas we can. That’s something I’ve done very well over the years. I linked myself to people who did the right thing and that’s how I learned.”

As for the investment from JP Morgan, Elanjian said that the investment marks the maximum allocation the company has made available through Project Spark, which is the company’s initiative to invest proprietary capital in diverse and women-led projects.

“We created an initiative a few years ago called Project Spark, which was ‘how can we provide capital to diversified funds and first time fund managers change. change that equation?’,” Elanjian said on stage. “Over the past few years, we have invested $90 million in 23 funds that have raised over $900 million in capital. So, through this project and through meeting with Kevin’s team, we’re thrilled that as of yesterday, we just closed and JP Morgan is now the first investor in Hartbeat’s new fund. Ventures and we are excited about what we can do together. “

Roman also announced that he has personally invested in Hartbeat Ventures, but did not disclose the amount.

Hartbeat Ventures has invested in several companies, including electrolyte beverage brand BrightFox, avatar platform Ready Player Me, sustainable bottled water brand Path, massage therapy device Therabody, packaging brand Cleancut sustainable packaging, Rodo car rental platform and Snackpass social food ordering platform.