Priyanka Chopra joins the technology bandwagon

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra becomes the latest celebrity to join the technology bandwagon after investing in a coding education company called Holberton School along with a dating app.

According to a New York Times report, Holberton teaches students coding without any charge until they graduate. After their graduation, "17% of their paycheck is deducted by the school for three and a half years."

So far every graduating student has managed to find jobs. Chopra’s investment is part of an $8.2 million round of funding that closed in April with the actress soon to join the company’s board of advisors.

A new chapter for me! I am so excited to partner with @bumble and @holbertonschool as an investor. I’m honored to join two companies that strive to expand gender diversity in the tech space, and make a social impact for the greater good... let’s do this!! pic.twitter.com/xBdC13XE0n

— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) October 4, 2018

Chopra has emphasised that her mission entails educating people from underprivileged backgrounds.

The campus is more like a WeWork more than a school, with rows of desks, neon lights on the ceilings and meeting rooms that are named after famous people. The school incorporates projects and group learning instead of the traditional course-work.

Priyanka Chopra also announced her second investment in Bumble, a dating, and social media app. The app was founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd, a prominent start-up founder in tech. Chopra will help promote Bumble’s launch in India in the coming few months.



Anjula Acharia, founder and investor of Silicon Valley’s Trinity Ventures and manager to Chopra was the first one to push her to invest in tech.

With Chopra’s involvement in Holberton, she aims to change gender disparity in the tech industry. Since Ne-Yo’s investment in the company, two-thirds of its students are from different colour and only about 30 per cent are women.

She's not the only celebrity to invest in tech start-ups. Ashton Kutcher is regularly found at tech conferences meanwhile Leonardo DiCaprio has been an adviser to at least three venture firms.

This article originally appeared on The New York Times.