The co-founder of MoviePass is departing from the company’s notable decline and is now seeking investments for a new venture studio aimed at supporting and funding startups.
Hamet Watt, who co-founded MoviePass in 2011 with the vision of offering moviegoers a monthly subscription for unlimited theater access, shared with Business Insider that he is focused on his new venture, Share Ventures.
The new company has raised nearly $20 million, with notable backers including Alphabet and Amazon. Watt revealed that Share Ventures is concentrating on startups related to the future of work and longevity.
He believes that the current environment of booming artificial intelligence and high interest rates has created an opportunity for a “differentiated model,” which is why Share Ventures is developing its own software in addition to advanced language models to streamline its internal operations, according to Business Insider.
Watt stated, “You don’t need as large of funds, and you can get signal on an opportunity much earlier with much less capital. For us, that’s a great thing because we’re building companies from scratch and using all of the most advanced tools to do that proactively.”
He noted that many venture capital firms are investing in new technologies but are not fully utilizing them themselves. “Using novel data and automation in our process is something we think is uniquely special to us,” he remarked.
Watt’s interest in health and longevity was sparked by the early loss of his mother at the age of 25, when she was just 49. “When you lose your mom at a young age, it forces you to think about your own mortality in a way that I don’t know that I was conscious of at the time,” he explained.
Despite the difficulties he faced with MoviePass, which he recently reflected on in the documentary “MoviePass, MovieCrash,” Watt remains motivated to continue innovating. He expressed, “What have I learned, and what do I have the guts to go out now and try — and maybe fail, but maybe succeed?”