Television host and actor Rannvijay Singha has offered brand ambassadorship and invested money in lieu for a stake in Gurugram-based What’s Up Life, a local discovery app for dining-out, party, leisure, events, and more.
The startup, founded by Gaurav H Luthra in 2015, also curates content, and is currently present in Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Kolkata and Hyderabad. It plans to expand to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chandigarh and Jaipur in the next six months.
"There are also many exciting events and product upgrades lined up," Luthra said.
The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount from author Karan Puri and Skyline Education Group’s Praveen Puri.
Singha, best known for hosting the television show MTV Roadies, previously invested in fashion styling app IStyleYou and car- and bike-pooling app Liftiee.
Singha said, “I liked the platform and the way What’s Up Life is reaching out to people with engaging content and events.â€
Celebrity investors
Singha’s investment adds to a growing list of deals involving celebrities who have been turning angel investors and investing tidy sums in startups.
Eight present and former cricketers and 23 Bollywood personalities have invested in 67 startups and other companies, according to media reports and VCCEdge, the data research platform of News Corp VCCircle. They include cricketers Virat Kohli and Umesh Yadav, former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, former tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi, actors Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Karishma Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Manoj Bajpayee, Suniel Shetty, Hrithik Roshan and Ajay Devgn, music composer AR Rahman, and singer Shaan.
In one of the most recent celebrity investments, baby-care products startup Mamaearth.in raised funding from Shilpa Shetty Kundra in April.
In 2014, the actress-turned-entrepreneur and her husband, Indian-origin entrepreneur Raj Kundra, had acquired controlling 51.51 per cent stake in listed Hindusthan Safety Glass Industries for Rs 1.89 crore ($0.3 million).
