Hamet Watt, co-founder of MoviePass, is moving forward from the company’s downfall and is in the process of raising funds for a new venture studio aimed at developing and financing startups.
Watt, who launched MoviePass in 2011 with the concept of offering moviegoers unlimited access to theaters for a monthly fee, shared with Business Insider that he has been diligently working on Share Ventures.
The new venture has raised nearly $20 million in funding, with support from major investors, including Alphabet and Amazon. Watt stated that the focus of Share Ventures is on startups in the fields of future work and longevity.
He believes that the current AI boom and high interest rates make the venture capital landscape more favorable for a distinctive approach, which is why Share Ventures intends to develop its own software and sophisticated language models to streamline its operations.
Watt explained, “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 firms are investing in these new technologies, but they’re not fully leveraging them,” emphasizing that “utilizing innovative data and automation in our process is a unique advantage for us.”
Watt’s interest in health and longevity was sparked by the loss of his mother at the age of 25, when she passed away at just 49. He reflected on this experience, saying, “When you lose your mom at a young age, it forces you to think about your own mortality in a way that I wasn’t conscious of at the time.”
Despite the failure of MoviePass, which he recently discussed in the documentary “MoviePass, MovieCrash,” Watt feels motivated to continue innovating. He expressed his mindset moving forward: “What have I learned, and what do I have the guts to go out now and try — and maybe fail, but maybe succeed?”