●SERENA WILLIAMS 16 UNICORNS BACKED●REESE WITHERSPOON $900M MEDIA EXIT●OPRAH WINFREY $43M WEIGHT WATCHERS●GWYNETH PALTROW $250M GOOP VALUATION●RIHANNA $1B SAVAGE X FENTY●JESSICA ALBA HONEST CO. · NASDAQ IPO●HALLE BERRY BACKS WOMEN'S HEALTH●BEYONCÉ LEMON PERFECT BACKER●JENNIFER LOPEZ HIMS & HERS BACKER●KIM KARDASHIAN SKKY PARTNERS PE FUND●SELENA GOMEZ GOPUFF STRATEGIC PARTNER●PRIYANKA CHOPRA BUMBLE EARLY BACKER●DEEPIKA PADUKONE KA ENTERPRISES INVESTOR●SHAKIRA ISIMA HAIRCARE FOUNDER●NATALIE PORTMAN ANGEL CITY CO-FOUNDER●KERRY WASHINGTON ANGEL INVESTOR●MINDY KALING ANGEL INVESTOR●EVA LONGORIA CASA DEL SOL CO-FOUNDER●CAMERON DIAZ AVALINE CO-FOUNDER●DREW BARRYMORE FLOWER BEAUTY FOUNDER●KATE HUDSON FABLETICS CO-FOUNDER●BLAKE LIVELY BETTY BUZZ FOUNDER●VENUS WILLIAMS ELEVEN FOUNDER●NAOMI OSAKA HANA KUMA CO-FOUNDER●MARIA SHARAPOVA PROLIFIC WELLNESS ANGEL●TYRA BANKS FIERCE CAPITAL FOUNDER●KARLIE KLOSS BEDFORD MEDIA FOUNDER●ISSA RAE TOPICALS & HILLTOP BACKER●KATY PERRY DE SOI CO-FOUNDER●KYLIE JENNER $1.2B KYLIE COSMETICS●BETHENNY FRANKEL SKINNYGIRL FOUNDER●MELINDA FRENCH GATES PIVOTAL VENTURES●CATHIE WOOD ARK INVEST CEO●MELLODY HOBSON ARIEL INVESTMENTS CO-CEO●KIRSTEN GREEN FORERUNNER VENTURES●SALLIE KRAWCHECK ELLEVEST CEO●MARY MEEKER BOND CAPITAL FOUNDER●ARLAN HAMILTON BACKSTAGE CAPITAL●BARBARA CORCORAN SHARK TANK INVESTOR●SHERYL SANDBERG EX-META COO●SARA BLAKELY FOUNDER OF SPANX●KATHY XU CAPITAL TODAY FOUNDER●JENNY LEE GRANITE ASIA PARTNER●SOLINA CHAU HORIZONS VENTURES●KIRAN MAZUMDAR-SHAW BIOCON FOUNDER●FALGUNI NAYAR NYKAA FOUNDER●MARÍA ASUNCIÓN ARAMBURUZABALA TRESALIA CAPITAL●OLIVIA WILDE $500K–$2M CHEQUES●EMMA WATSON 2 DOCUMENTED DEALS●PARIS HILTON 20+ STARTUP BETS●THE FOSTER SISTERS BUMBLE AND MIRROR EARLY●GRACE BEVERLEY £6.2M IN TALA'S FIRST YEAR●AILEEN LEE COINED "UNICORN"●ANN MIURA-KO SEED INVESTOR IN LYFT●EMMA GREDE 8% OF SKIMS●NAMITA THAPAR 100+ COMPANIES BACKED●SERENA WILLIAMS 16 UNICORNS BACKED●REESE WITHERSPOON $900M MEDIA EXIT●OPRAH WINFREY $43M WEIGHT WATCHERS●GWYNETH PALTROW $250M GOOP VALUATION●RIHANNA $1B SAVAGE X FENTY●JESSICA ALBA HONEST CO. · NASDAQ IPO●HALLE BERRY BACKS WOMEN'S HEALTH●BEYONCÉ LEMON PERFECT BACKER●JENNIFER LOPEZ HIMS & HERS BACKER●KIM KARDASHIAN SKKY PARTNERS PE FUND●SELENA GOMEZ GOPUFF STRATEGIC PARTNER●PRIYANKA CHOPRA BUMBLE EARLY BACKER●DEEPIKA PADUKONE KA ENTERPRISES INVESTOR●SHAKIRA ISIMA HAIRCARE FOUNDER●NATALIE PORTMAN ANGEL CITY CO-FOUNDER●KERRY WASHINGTON ANGEL INVESTOR●MINDY KALING ANGEL INVESTOR●EVA LONGORIA CASA DEL SOL CO-FOUNDER●CAMERON DIAZ AVALINE CO-FOUNDER●DREW BARRYMORE FLOWER BEAUTY FOUNDER●KATE HUDSON FABLETICS CO-FOUNDER●BLAKE LIVELY BETTY BUZZ FOUNDER●VENUS WILLIAMS ELEVEN FOUNDER●NAOMI OSAKA HANA KUMA CO-FOUNDER●MARIA SHARAPOVA PROLIFIC WELLNESS ANGEL●TYRA BANKS FIERCE CAPITAL FOUNDER●KARLIE KLOSS BEDFORD MEDIA FOUNDER●ISSA RAE TOPICALS & HILLTOP BACKER●KATY PERRY DE SOI CO-FOUNDER●KYLIE JENNER $1.2B KYLIE COSMETICS●BETHENNY FRANKEL SKINNYGIRL FOUNDER●MELINDA FRENCH GATES PIVOTAL VENTURES●CATHIE WOOD ARK INVEST CEO●MELLODY HOBSON ARIEL INVESTMENTS CO-CEO●KIRSTEN GREEN FORERUNNER VENTURES●SALLIE KRAWCHECK ELLEVEST CEO●MARY MEEKER BOND CAPITAL FOUNDER●ARLAN HAMILTON BACKSTAGE CAPITAL●BARBARA CORCORAN SHARK TANK INVESTOR●SHERYL SANDBERG EX-META COO●SARA BLAKELY FOUNDER OF SPANX●KATHY XU CAPITAL TODAY FOUNDER●JENNY LEE GRANITE ASIA PARTNER●SOLINA CHAU HORIZONS VENTURES●KIRAN MAZUMDAR-SHAW BIOCON FOUNDER●FALGUNI NAYAR NYKAA FOUNDER●MARÍA ASUNCIÓN ARAMBURUZABALA TRESALIA CAPITAL●OLIVIA WILDE $500K–$2M CHEQUES●EMMA WATSON 2 DOCUMENTED DEALS●PARIS HILTON 20+ STARTUP BETS●THE FOSTER SISTERS BUMBLE AND MIRROR EARLY●GRACE BEVERLEY £6.2M IN TALA'S FIRST YEAR●AILEEN LEE COINED "UNICORN"●ANN MIURA-KO SEED INVESTOR IN LYFT●EMMA GREDE 8% OF SKIMS●NAMITA THAPAR 100+ COMPANIES BACKED

Film & TV

Issa Rae

Rae angel-invests in consumer and creator-economy startups, often founder-of-colour-led, and co-owns local businesses; she also builds her own ventures (Hoorae media, Raedio audio, ViaRae prosecco).

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Topicals & Hilltop backer

Notable investments

What Issa Rae has backed

Topicals

Investor in the skincare brand's $2.6 million seed round (2020, led by Lerer Hippeau), alongside other backers; her individual stake undisclosed.

Source: Black Enterprise, 2020 ↗

Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen

Joined founders Yonnie Hagos and Ajay Relan as partner and co-owner (2019), helping expand the Los Angeles cafe brand; stake undisclosed.

Source: Forbes, 2023 ↗

Photo: Bea Phi — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Watch

Issa Rae in her own words

Issa Rae on Growing Her Production Company · via Bloomberg Live

What the record doesn't say

Read this with the gaps in mind.

The amounts of her angel cheques and her stake in Hilltop are not disclosed. Claims of a '$50 million Ensemble Ventures fund' circulate online but trace only to low-quality blogs; the verified record describes Ensemble as her self-funded creator-marketing company.

Frequently asked questions

What has Issa Rae invested in?

Issa Rae has backed Topicals, Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen. Each one is listed on this page with what the company does and a link to named reporting.

How much has Issa Rae invested?

Cheque sizes are almost never disclosed, and Issa Rae's are mostly private. Where a round size, stake or valuation has been reported we cite the source; otherwise we flag it as undisclosed rather than guess.