LA tech roundup: Ashton Kutcher launches a venture capital firm, Honest Company possible IPO, BuzzFeed billion and more

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No, you are not being punked. This week actor and angel investor Ashton Kutcher launched a new venture capital tech company investment firm called Sound Ventures. Kutcher actually has a good record investing his own money in tech companies as an angel investor and will now be upping the stakes by investing other people's money through this new venture capital firm. One rumored backer of Sound Ventures is TPG, a private equity company that also invested in Uber and is a large investor in venture capital firm Sherpa Ventures. Kutcher said the creation of Sound Ventures would allow him to be more stage agnostic, allowing him to make later stage investments, instead of just seed fundings. [Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary launch Sound Ventures, the successor to A-Grade Investments: TechCrunch]

 

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BuzzFeed’s video production and distribution division announced via an internal memo that its videos are now reaching 1 billion monthly views. The division, which was started in late 2012 and is based in Los Angeles, has grown to over 160 employees and distributes about 50 videos per week across 20 different platforms worldwide. About five percent of BuzzFeed’s views come from BuzzFeed.com, while the rest is spread amongst YouTube, Facebook and other video distribution platforms. [BuzzFeed Motion Pictures videos reach 1 billion monthly views: Los Angeles Times]

 

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The Honest Company, a non-toxic consumer goods e-commerce company, is still eyeing the potential of an IPO, said founder Brian Lee at SXSW. Lee said the company is not in need of more funding so an IPO would only take place if the company wanted to take advantage of financing in the public markets. The Honest Company had $150 million in revenue in 2014 and several profitable months. Lee said the company is focusing on growth over profits at this stage. The company is planning international expansion this year. [Honest Company CEO Brian Lee Celebrates His Birthday By Talking IPO Possibilities At SXSW: TechCrunch]

 

Snapchat is selling advertisement space on its Discover feature, the app’s channel for news publishers, at a high price point. Sources said Snapchat Discover advertisements are running around $100 per thousands views, about twice that of online video advertisements and many times the cost of banner advertisements. Publishers get a cut of that advertising revenue; according to sources on average they are taking home 10 cents per view for videos that are seen 500,000 to 1 million times per day. Snapchat is just four years old and Discover was just launched in January. [Snapchat’s Discover publishers are asking for big ad rates — and they’re getting them: Re/code]

 

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Zealot Networks continued its buying spree this week by purchasing digital marketing firm Threshold Interactive for an undisclosed amount. Threshold’s clients include food and beverage company Nestlé. Threshold works with rising YouTube stars to create online content for brands. Zealot has been buying up companies like Threshold to build an agency that creates online content for brands. Founded just recently in August 2104, the startup has received $25 million in investment funding. [Zealot shopping spree continues: Los Angeles Business Journal]