Nas and Anthony Saleh Visit Singapore As Potential Investors In Asian Startups
Nas and Anthony Saleh, his manager, were recently in Singapore investigating startups in which they might invest. They've already invested in startups from Korea and Indonesia and it's possible they'll be investing in many more from the region. Khailee Ng of 500 Startups helped introduce them to new companies but, so far, no word on who they were meeting with. Though they've invested in at least one or two that are music-related, most of their tech investments to date span a range of consumer-focused web sites and services.
Gwendolyn Regina Tan interviewed Nas and Anthony Saleh, his manager, about their plans to invest in Asian startups.
Nas and Saleh are active investors in a broad range of tech startups that include a few music-related sites such as Rap Genius, Earbits and, with or without Saleh, Mass Appeal.
But most of what they do is invest in hot tech startups along with such smarties as Ben Horowitz. Tan reports they're also limited partners in 500 Startups which may make them investors in a much larger number. I'm not quite sure how that works with 500 Startups given the accelerator's huge number of investments.
The 500 Startups connection is crucial because they were getting intros in the region during a 3-day trip to Singapore via 500 Startups' Entrepreneur-in-Residence Khailee Ng. They've also invested additional money in at least one 500 Startups graduate.
Both Tan and Erin Griffith discuss the celebrity factor but most of the startups Nas and Saleh invest in aren't really the kind of startups that would necessarily benefit from hip hop star involvement and, if any of them are using that for marketing, it's certainly been fairly low-key.
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Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) posts music crowdfunding news @CrowdfundingM. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
