Celebrity Net Worth: Rohit Sharma invests in Indian education start-up
In our fortnightly celebrity investment and wealth round-up, Niall Horan becomes an investor and ambassador for Tiger Woods-backed golf league and Deepika Padukone’s personal care start-up plans to raise $5.9 million
The company also received funding from Qed Investors, Aavishkaar Capital and additional investors, it announced on LinkedIn.
Over the last three years, Leo1 has raised $35 million through two investment rounds.
The investment will be directed towards innovation, technology, expansion and steps to resolve pending cash flow issues in educational institutes, the company said.
“Their approach, unwavering commitment and entrepreneurial spirit are truly inspiring as they work to positively impact the lives of aspiring students and their parents.
“This partnership presents an incredible opportunity for me to back initiatives that can make a significant difference for an entire generation.”
Established in 2018 by Rohit Gajbhiye, Leo1 is committed to streamlining fee collection through a reward mechanism that gives students incentives to make advance fee payments, encouraging responsible financial behaviour.
The investment by Sharma “represents a significant step forward for Leo1 in its goal to resolve the long-pending cash flow issue in educational institutes along with providing innovative solutions for students across India”, the start-up said.
Sharma has a personal fortune estimated at $25 million, according to wealth-tracking platform Celebrity Net Worth.
He earns an annual salary of 70 million Indian rupees ($837,400) from India’s cricket board. Additionally, he receives match fees for international matches: 1.5 million rupees for every Test match, 600,000 rupees for every ODI match and 300,000 rupees for every T20 match, Celebrity Net Worth estimated.
He also earns 160 million rupees a season playing for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League tournament.
The cricketer has endorsement deals with brands such as adidas, Hublot and Jaguar, and is reported to charge 50 million rupees for every brand deal.
Artist Niall Horan is estimated to have a net worth of $70 million. Getty Images
Niall Horan
Singer-songwriter Niall Horan announced on June 19 that he has invested in a golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
The former One Direction star said he is now an investor and ambassador for Boston Common Golf, one of six teams involved in the virtual TGL golf league, through his investment vehicle Greenbridge Ventures.
Boston Common Golf is owned by Fenway Sports Group and McIlroy’s investment firm Symphony Ventures.
Announcing the news on social media on June 19, Horan said: “Excited to announce I am an investor & ambassador for @commongolf! Boston is a very special place to me & I am excited to work with Fenway Sports, Rory, Keegan, Adam & the whole team on the Boston franchise.”
“Golf has been a lifelong passion of mine. Being able to combine my love for the game and my friendship with Rory into a relationship that helps launch a new concept in golf is truly special.”
TGL, a new tech-inspired golf league, was formed by sports executive Mike McCarley and professional golfers Woods and McIlroy in partnership with the PGA Tour.
Its first season is due to launch next year and will feature six teams, each comprising three PGA Tour players, competing on a virtual course.
Celebrity investors in TGL include Lewis Hamilton, Justin Timberlake, Steph Curry, Serena Williams and Shaquille O’Neill.
Horan, 30, has a net worth of $70 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
In 2015, Horan launched a sports agency focused on golf, Modest! Golf Management, with his business partner, Mark McDonnell. Their clients include Tyrrell Hatton, who has won six European Tour events and one on the PGA Tour.
Deepika Padukone's personal care start-up 82°E is planning to raise 500 million rupees ($5.9 million) from new and existing investors. Getty Images
Ka Enterprises, an investment entity owned by Padukone and her family, is set to participate in the funding round, along with other investors.
The new capital will be used for expansion and growth, the filings showed.
Founded in 2021 by Padukone and venture capitalist Jigar Shah, the Mumbai-based brand offers a range of skincare products for men and women.
The company last raised $7.5 million in a seed round led by DSG Consumer Partners and Ideo Ventures, along with Padukone’s family office, in December 2022.
Padukone, 38, and her family office own 59.6 per cent of the start-up’s shares, while her husband – actor Ranveer Singh – controls 5.32 per cent of the company, according to start-up data intelligence platform TheKredible.
The actress, one of the highest paid in India, has a personal fortune estimated at $40 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
In 2015, she started the Live Love Laugh Foundation to promote self-care through conscious living and being in tune with one's body and mental state.
Martha Stewart, 82, was once a billionaire but her net worth is now estimated at $400 million. AP
Martha Stewart
Businesswoman and TV star Martha Stewart purchased a duplex unit in an upscale apartment complex in the Upper West Side of Manhattan for $12.3 million last month, Celebrity Net Worth reported.
The apartment at The Belnord sits on the 11th and 12th floors and covers about 4,600 square feet, with six bedrooms and seven baths, according to the website.
Her primary residence remains the Westchester estate in New York that sprawls across 156 acres, which she bought for $15.2 million in 2002. Last year, she sold a West Village triplex for $31 million, the platform said.
Stewart, 82, was once a billionaire but her net worth is now estimated at $400 million.
She earned her net worth through a business conglomerate that, over the years, has included television shows, magazines, endorsements, home products and a media and merchandising company she launched called Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
The former Chanel model and stockbroker made her fortune by taking Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia public in 1999.
The initial public offering raised $1.9 billion, with the stock reaching a record high of $39.75 a share the following day, according to ABC News.
On the day her company went public, Stewart became the first self-made female billionaire in the US. She later sold the company for more than $350 million in 2015.
However, it was her venture into the catering business in the late 1970s that set the foundation for her future fame.
Stewart's first cookbook, Entertaining, published in 1982, was a bestseller. Television appearances followed, leading to her own show, Martha Stewart Living, which aired for more than a decade.
Her property portfolio is worth more than $100 million and she owns a number of homes across the US, Celebrity Net Worth estimated.
The nine articles of the 50-Year Charter
1. Dubai silk road
2. A geo-economic map for Dubai
3. First virtual commercial city
4. A central education file for every citizen
5. A doctor to every citizen
6. Free economic and creative zones in universities
Favourite holiday destination: Whenever I have any free time I always go back to see my family in Caltra, Galway, it’s the only place I can properly relax.
Favourite film: The Way, starring Martin Sheen. It’s about the Camino de Santiago walk from France to Spain.
Personal motto: If something’s meant for you it won’t pass you by.
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
Travel distance: Limited
Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
Duration: Can linger for days
Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
The biogs
Name: Zinah Madi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and links
Nationality: Syrian
Family: Married, Mother of Tala, 18, Sharif, 14, Kareem, 2
Favourite Quote: “There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.”
Name: Razan Nabulsi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and Links
Nationality: Jordanian
Family: Married, Mother of Yahya, 3.5
Favourite Quote: A Chinese proverb that says: “Be not afraid of moving slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes. The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Samaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
