Technology companies are help to shape and drive pop culture now, according to one Silicon Valley venture capitalist who has experience at both managing stars and searching out the next great technology idea. Anjula Ancharia-Bath, a partner at Trinity Ventures, says technology has infiltrated pop culture, thanks to former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. ‘When I think about my heroes in pop culture and in tech, Steve Jobs always came to mind,’ she said. ‘When you think about the iPod, it really did become this iconic product within pop culture.’ Acharia-Bath said other companies that have infiltrated pop culture are Facebook and Instagram. As technology CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg achieve celebrity status, celebrities themselves are looking at ways to invest in technology. ‘These celebrities think, I have this huge following in pop culture, I have this huge fan base, how can I turn that into even bigger returns? When they see these tech companies sell for billions of dollars, they’re like, I need to be a part of that,’ explained Ancharia-Bath. ‘Ashton Kutcher has really made a huge move into technology and he’s got a really enviable portfolio with some of the top unicorns in there, like Uber for example.’ Acharia-Bath came to the VC world with a background in entertainment, managing actress Priyanka Chopra and co-founding the media company Desi Hits! As an investor, she looks for shifts in culture, and sees that now with messaging apps. ‘People are spending all of their time on Slack or WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. I think it’s just a natural progression that people are going to start doing commerce on apps as well.’ Acharia-Bath also said there’s no shortage of money in the venture capitalist space, but she said VCs are going to become more selective with their investments. She expects valuations will come down, and exits to the public market will remain difficult.
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