The most famous movie industry in the entire world, Hollywood, was founded in the early 20th century. Considered the oldest film industry, Hollywood produces over 700 movies a year. With a history spanning more than a century, this industry has created many famous artists. In this plethora of artists, there are a few who took their career into their own hands and built a business empire with their creativity and hard work.
Let’s check out some artists turned entrepreneurs who set an example for all of us by growing their career in their own way.
1)Ashton Kutcher (Co founder, A Plus)
Known for his roles in That ’70s Show, Dude, Where’s My Car? and Two and a Half Men, this American actor is also the Chairman of the Board at A Plus, a digital media company. Co founded by Kutcher along with Evan Beard and Kendall Dabaghi, the Company produces original social content, with a focus on positive journalism. With an Alexa ranking of 26,655 the site gets approximately 50 million monthly visitors. Along with A Plus, Kutcher also invested in many high technology startups like ResearchGate and Zenreach.
2)Melisa McCarthy (Founder, Seven7)
This Academy Award nominee actress and comedian is also a business owner. Using her degree in textiles and interest in fashion, she launched her own fashion line called Seven7 in 2015. Started with an intention to include clothing for all, including plus size women, the collection ranges from size 4 to 28 and is currently available at stores like Macy’s and Nordstrom. Apart from owning a fashion line, Melissa McCarthy also founded a production house with her husband Ben Falcone.
3)Dr. Dre (Co founder, Beats Electronics)
This American rapper is well known for his music as well as for creating headphones which took the world by storm. Dr. Dre is the founder and CEO of Beats Electronics, which creates brightly colored headphones that caught on as a worldwide trend. Named Beats By Dr. Dre, the Company’s main focus is on headphones and speakers. After the massive success of the headphones, Dr. Dre, along with co founder Jimmy Lovine, sold Beats to Apple for a whopping 3 billion USD.
4)Jessica Alba (Co founder, The Honest Company)
Jessica Alba became a successful businesswoman after founding The Honest Company. The startup’s main focus is on creating products in an organic way and it produces over 100 non toxic products, ranging from diapers and shampoos to makeup. In 2017, the Company was valued at 1.7 billion USD, with 250 million USD sales. With Alba’s net worth valued at 350 million USD, it is safe to say, the Company is a massive success.
5)Rainn Wilson (Founder, SoulPancake)
Actor Rainn Wilson, notably known for his role of Dwight in the massively hit sitcom The Office, founded a Los Angeles based media company called SoulPancake. With over 2 million subscribers and 700 million video views, the tagline of the Company is “We make stuff that matters.” The Company was listed in Fast Company’s “10 Most Innovative Companies in Video” in 2015. With a vision to create better content, SoulPancake is constantly growing, with a net worth of 1.9 million USD in July 2019.
As the artists in this selection show, there are a lot of ways to build your own business and the world is filled with lots of ideas to get you started. With the right decisions and hard work, you can grow to become an entrepreneur.
MobiKwik is venturing into the stock broking sector with the launch of its subsidiary, MobiKwik Securities Broking Private Limited (MSBPL), following approval from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on March 3, 2025. This move aims to diversify MobiKwik’s offerings beyond its core digital payments services and compete with established players like Zerodha and Groww.
MSBPL will provide a range of brokerage services, including trading in shares, securities, commodities, and derivatives. The subsidiary has an initial capital of Rs 1 lakh, with plans for an additional Rs 2 crore investment to support its operations.
As MobiKwik enters this competitive market, it brings a substantial user base of 172 million and a merchant network of 5 million. Despite recent financial challenges, including a reported loss of Rs 55.2 crore in Q3 FY25, the company aims to leverage its existing infrastructure and user engagement to capture a share of the growing investment technology market, projected to reach $74 billion by 2030.
This strategic expansion aligns with MobiKwik’s broader goals of enhancing its financial service
Nazara Technologies has sold its entire 71.54% stake in Sports Unity Private Limited, the company behind the multiplayer quiz game ‘Qunami’, for INR 7.15 lakh. This divestment, effective March 25, 2025, signifies a strategic shift for Nazara, which had previously acquired a controlling interest in Sports Unity in 2019 for INR 7.5 crore.
The decision to offload the stake comes as Sports Unity has faced financial difficulties, reporting no active business operations and a negative net worth of INR 0.45 crore at the end of FY24. This move aligns with Nazara’s broader strategy to streamline its operations and concentrate on more profitable ventures within the gaming sector.
This sale follows Nazara’s recent divestment of a 94.85% stake in another subsidiary, Open Play, to Moonshine Technologies for INR 104.33 crore. Despite reporting record quarterly revenue of INR 544.7 crore in Q3 FY25, Nazara experienced a 53.5% decline in net profit year-over-year.
Nazara continues to focus on enhancing its portfolio through strategic acquisitions and investments in high-potential gaming platforms while navigating the competitive landscape of the gaming industry.
Hypergro.ai, a Bengaluru-based marketing technology startup, has raised Rs 7 crore in seed funding led by Silverneedle Ventures, with participation from Huddle, TDV Partners, HME Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, FiiRE, and angel investors. Founded in 2022 by Rituraj Biswas, Neha Soman, Abhijeet Kumar, and Arijit Mukhopadhyay, the company aims to revolutionize digital marketing by addressing challenges like high Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) and low Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
The startup leverages AI to create hyper-personalized video ads using user-generated content (UGC). The fresh capital will be used to enhance Hypergro.ai’s AI capabilities, expand operations, and build a specialized team focusing on data analysis, predictive algorithms, and automation.
Since its inception, Hypergro.ai has collaborated with over 70 brands, including several from Shark Tank India. The company’s innovative approach has led to its selection for Google’s Startups Accelerator: AI First (India) program in July 2024, providing access to critical training, mentorship, and state-of-the-art AI tools.
Hypergro.ai’s platform now supports a community of over 300,000 creators across India and has partnered with more than 100 brands, significantly enhancing its AI model’s accuracy and improving revenue generation for clients. As it continues to expand and refine its AI-powered marketing solutions, Hypergro.ai is set to transform the digital advertising landscape, offering businesses more effective and efficient customer acquisition and engagement strategies.