Introduction
Chris Hollod is a venture capitalist and an angel investor.
Career
Hollod works with Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ron Burkle to manage their venture capital fund, A-Grade Investments.
In addition to being the Managing Partner at A-Grade, Hollod works for The Yucaipa Companies and oversees Ron Burkle's venture capital investments and has been referred to in the press as "Ron Burkle's right-hand man."
Hollod is also a Founding Partner of Inevitable Ventures with D.A. Wallach.Hollod also acts as an angel investor by personally investing his own money in deals, including the restaurant chain Sweetgreen and aerospace start-up Planet.
In 2012, the team decided to raise more money for A-Grade Investments from several billionaires including David Geffen and Mark Cuban.
Hollod has been involved in more than 100 venture capital deals (Uber, AirBnB, Spotify, and SoundCloud) and was named one of the 32 most influential investors of 2013 (outside Silicon Valley). Fortune included Hollod in its "Meet the Uber Rich" article as an early investor in Uber and the LA Times published a feature on him entitled "How I Made It: A Billionaire's Right-Hand Man."
In March 2016, Forbes released a very comprehensive article on A-Grade Investments entitled "How Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Built A $250 Million Portfolio With Startups Like Uber And Airbnb." Ashton appeared on the cover of the magazine, which became the most-widely read issue in Forbes’ 99-year history. The Forbes article states that the team turned $30m into $250m, representing almost an 8.5x investment multiple.
Hollod has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal and LA Times as a venture capital expert and he has also judged several start-up competitions including Global Startup Battle and Start-Up Weekend Los Angeles.
Hollod sits on the board of directors of life/after/denim, a contemporary menswear and accessories brand backed by Ashton Kutcher, Ron Burkle, and Relativity Media.
Prior to joining A-Grade Investments, Hollod worked in Investment Banking and Private Equity. Hollod graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Economics.