Chris Hollod is a venture capitalist,

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...

, and advisor in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Hollod was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Tailwind Acquisition Corp. which merged with Terran Orbital in March 2022 in a $1.8 billion deal. Over the course of his career, Hollod has completed more than 150 deals across five different investment entities, including investments in

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...

, Houzz,

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

Pinterest Pinterest is an American social media service for publishing and discovery of information in the form of digital Bulletin board, pinboards. This includes recipes, home, style, motivation, and inspiration on the Internet using image sharing. Pint ...

Duolingo Duolingo, Inc. is an American educational technology company that produces learning Mobile app, apps and provides Language assessment, language certification. Duolingo offers courses on 43 languages, ranging from English language, English, Fre ...

, Airtable, Oscar Health, Flexport, Casper, and Warby Parker.

Early life

Hollod graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

with a degree in economics. Hollod grew up in Atlanta. He worked as an investment banking associate at Wachovia Securities in Charlotte, NC, and after being laid-off during the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, ultimately moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to work for investor Ronald Burkle.

Career

Hollod worked with Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ronald Burkle as the managing partner of their venture capital fund, A-Grade Investments. In 2012, A-Grade Investments raised money from David Geffen and

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American businessman and television personality. He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and co-owner of 2929 Entertain ...

, among other investors. Hollod also worked for The Yucaipa Companies for eight years and oversaw Ron Burkle's venture capital investments and was referred to in the press as "Burkle's right-hand man." Hollod was first introduced to the world of venture capital by working on a deal with Puff Daddy and

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), formerly known by his stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, producer, and former rapper. Mark Wahlberg filmography, His work as a leading actor, leading man spans the Comedy film, come ...

, for their bottled water start-up, AQUAhydrate. Hollod is a founding partner of Inevitable Ventures with D.A. Wallach where they invested in such companies as 8i, Upside Foods, and Thrive Market. Hollod was named one of the 32 most influential investors of 2013 (outside Silicon Valley) and received a Visionary Award in 2018. Fortune included Hollod in its "Meet the Uber Rich" article as an early investor in Uber and the

LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the large ...

published a feature on him entitled "How I Made It: A Billionaire's Right-Hand Man." He has been quoted in the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

, and

as a venture capital expert, and he has judged several start-up competitions including Global Startup Battle and Start-Up Weekend Los Angeles. Hollod promotes brands and entrepreneurs on his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

page and has written about using Instagram to source and diligence new investment opportunities. Hollod is currently the founder and managing partner of Hollod Holdings, a venture capital and advisory entity that has invested in companies such as Magic Spoon, MUD\WTR, JuneShine, AMASS, Jinx, and De Soi.

Personal

Hollod lives in Hollywood's Sunset Square neighborhood in a bungalow purchased from ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

'' star Lea Michele in 2015. Hollod is writing a book entitled "Big Fish Big Pond," providing advice for millennials. Hollod collects wine and judged the Millennial Wine Competition in 2020. Hollod is married to Bianca Vierra.

References

External links

Inevitable Venture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollod, Chris Vanderbilt University alumni American venture capitalists Living people 1982 births