Hamet Watt, co-founder of MoviePass, is shifting focus after the company’s dramatic downfall and is now raising funds for a new venture studio aimed at developing and financing startups.
Watt, who launched MoviePass in 2011, a subscription service that allowed moviegoers to watch unlimited films in theaters for a monthly fee, has been actively working on Share Ventures. This new venture has already attracted nearly $20 million in funding from notable investors, including Alphabet and Amazon. The emphasis of Share Ventures is on startups that concentrate on future work and longevity.
Watt believes the current landscape, characterized by an AI surge and elevated interest rates, has created an opportunity for a unique venture capital model. Share Ventures plans to develop its own software and leverage complex language models to streamline internal operations, allowing for earlier identification of investment opportunities with less capital.
He remarked, “You don’t need as large of funds, and you can get signal on an opportunity much earlier with much less capital.” Watt sees this as advantageous as they are building innovative companies from the ground up, utilizing advanced technological tools proactively.
While many venture firms are investing in new technologies, Watt noted that few are actually integrating and employing these innovations effectively within their operations. “Using novel data and automation in our process is something we think is uniquely special to us,” he said.
Watt’s interest in health and longevity is deeply personal, stemming from the loss of his mother when he was just 25 years old. Reflecting on this experience, he stated, “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.”
Despite the setbacks with MoviePass, which he discussed in the documentary “MoviePass, MovieCrash,” Watt is motivated to pursue new innovations. He posed a question about his journey: “What have I learned, and what do I have the guts to go out now and try — and maybe fail, but maybe succeed?”