Ashton Kutcher launching new VC firm with Morgan Beller

Ashton Kutcher is stepping away from Sound Ventures, the firm he co-founded with Guy Oseary 11 years ago, to start a separate venture capital fund with Morgan Beller. TechCrunch confirmed the move after a Wall Street Journal report and notes the new firm’s name has not been made public.

What exactly did Kutcher announce?

Kutcher is leaving Sound Ventures to co-found a new VC fund with Morgan Beller, focused on early-stage investments in AI infrastructure, energy, and deep tech. The split is not framed as a failure at Sound Ventures: the firm has backed companies such as Brex and Gusto, and was an early investor in OpenAI, Anthropic, and Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs. Kutcher will continue to serve as an adviser to Sound Ventures even after he departs.

Who is Morgan Beller and what will she bring?

Morgan Beller joins Kutcher as co-founder of the new fund, bringing a background in seed-stage VC and crypto projects. Beller was until recently a general partner at seed-focused VC NFX, previously co-led the cryptocurrency project Libra at Meta, and spent nearly three years as a partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Those roles align with the new fund’s emphasis on "hard science and engineering breakthroughs rather than software alone," the story says.

How does this differ from Sound Ventures’ strategy?

Sound Ventures built its reputation on concentrated, high-conviction bets in category-leading AI labs and later-stage companies. Kutcher’s new fund will target earlier stages, betting on infrastructure and the underlying energy and tooling that power AI and deep tech startups, a shift TechCrunch describes as chasing "the layer underneath those companies." The decision reflects a reported difference in views over which startup stages to target, with Sound leaning toward backing companies that are already more established.

What did others say about the move?

Stanford finance professor Ilya Strebulaev noted the track record of Kutcher and his fund, writing on X, "He and his fund consistently make it onto [my] rankings of top unicorn investors. An interesting case!" Sound Ventures co-founder Guy Oseary and Sound general partner Effie Epstein will advise Kutcher and Beller’s new firm, while Kutcher remains an adviser to Sound Ventures.

Why it matters

The move signals a reallocation of attention and capital within the venture ecosystem toward earlier-stage infrastructure and energy plays that support AI and deep tech. Sound Ventures’ public portfolio includes high-profile AI bets such as OpenAI and Anthropic; Kutcher’s new focus suggests investors see fresh opportunity in the components and engineering layers those labs depend on. For founders building hardware, energy systems, or foundational AI tooling, that means a potential increase in investors who are explicitly seeking very early-stage, science-driven startups.

What to watch

Watch for the new fund’s name and first announced investments, and whether Kutcher and Beller publicly define specific stage or check-size parameters. Also track whether other high-profile backers follow by shifting capital toward early-stage AI infrastructure and deep tech.

TechCrunch published this reporting on November 4. The outlet notes the new firm’s name has not been disclosed.