Influencer Jake Paul manages a $65 million fund, breaking into the OpenAI investment circle with "attention capital"

According to Fortune, well-known YouTuber and professional boxer Jake Paul recently announced that his venture capital fund Anti Fund, which he co-founded with entrepreneur Geoffrey Woo, has now surpassed $65 million in assets under management and has successfully participated in several hot Silicon Valley startups, including OpenAI, Anduril, Polymarket, and Ramp. Paul also became the first celebrity to license his name, image, and portrait rights to OpenAI’s text-to-video platform Sora, symbolizing that personal brand assets are officially entering the AI licensing era.

Anti Fund Shifts from Influencer Capital to Institutionalized Investment

Jake Paul stated that Anti Fund has transitioned from its initial rolling fund model to an institutionalized investment firm. The fund was established in 2021 by Paul and Woo, with Paul’s brother Logan later joining as a general partner. According to Fortune, while Anti Fund’s assets under management remain small compared to the market, they are above the median, with the average seed fund size in 2024 around $15 million.

The fund’s positioning embodies an anti-mainstream spirit, focusing on investing in atypical, disruptive founders and companies. Anti Fund partner Steve Han said the fund’s core competitive advantage lies in combining investment with community-driven distribution capabilities to help startups quickly build market presence and narratives. He explained, “Marketing and distribution capabilities are becoming increasingly valuable in Silicon Valley, which is also a key reason why Anti Fund has attracted attention.”

Sora Collaboration Sparks Billion-Exposure: AI Persona Licensing Becomes a New Model

Last year, Jake Paul engaged with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during President Trump’s second inauguration, which led to a collaboration between the two. After Paul became the first public figure to license his personal image to Sora, a large amount of AI-generated content quickly appeared online, including videos of Jake Paul in a ballet dress and humorous versions of him working at fast-food restaurants.

Although the partnership sparked discussions about portrait rights and AI usage boundaries, it also brought over a billion exposures for companies in Anti Fund’s portfolio, demonstrating the synergy between AI and the traffic economy.

In contrast, Disney issued a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, accusing Seedance 2.0 of unauthorized use of Marvel and Star Wars characters to train AI. Japan’s AI strategy minister, Nobi Onoda, also revealed intentions to investigate the use of Japanese anime characters and Prime Minister Sanae Takashi’s images in AI video generation models.

(Anyone Can Be a Director! ByteDance Launches Seedance 2.0, Handling Storyboarding to Editing in One Go)

“Attention Capital” Becomes a New Competitive Edge in Silicon Valley

The rise of Anti Fund reflects a shift in Silicon Valley’s investment logic: capital is no longer just about funds but about attention and distribution capabilities. Paul has previously set multiple traffic records, including the 2017 YouTube music video “It’s Everyday Bro,” which has over 300 million views, and a 2024 boxing match with Mike Tyson that attracted 108 million viewers on Netflix, setting the largest boxing box office outside Las Vegas in U.S. history.

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