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Is Baahubali star Rana Daggubati an investment king? His metaverse venture Ikonz just got funding from Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates and he has an impressive business and real estate portfolio too …

Rana Daggubati has made millions by investing in projects outside of the film industry. Photo: @ranadaggubati/Instagram
Rana Daggubati has made millions by investing in projects outside of the film industry. Photo: @ranadaggubati/Instagram
Bollywood

  • The cousin of Naga Chaitanya and son of D. Suresh Babu was born to work in film and, after a stint in production, starred in a variety of Bollywood and Telugu flicks
  • But he’s not just a film guy: now he’s set his sights on the metaverse, securing funding from Jeff Bezos-backed Village Global, and he even co-owns Hyderabad F.C.

Rana Daggubati has been making a name for himself for many years now. He has starred in both Bollywood and Telugu films, and achieved worldwide fame after his film Baahubali (2015) became the second highest grossing Indian film of all time.

He recently made headlines when the company he invested in, a metaverse venture called Ikonz, received a huge capital injection from Village Global, which is an early-stage venture capital firm backed by some of the biggest names in tech including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

It turns out the actor is no stranger to making big investments, having several lucrative side hustles that have allowed him to amass a multimillion-dollar fortune.

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Here are five things you need to know about Rana Daggubati.

1. Despite being born into a famous filmmaking family, he worked his way to the top

Handsome Rana Daggubati looks as though he was born to be a film star, but he initially wanted to be a visual effects producer. Photo: @ranadaggubatif/Instagram
Handsome Rana Daggubati looks as though he was born to be a film star, but he initially wanted to be a visual effects producer. Photo: @ranadaggubatif/Instagram

India has a variety of regional film industries, from the main one known as Bollywood, to the highly productive South Indian industry (affectionately called Tollywood), which makes films that are regularly remade and adapted into Hindi.

While it was Baahubali that thrust Daggubati into the global spotlight, the actor was already a big name in the South Indian film industry before that. The 37-year-old was born into a famous film family. His father is famous Telugu film producer D. Suresh Babu, his grandfather D. Ramanaidu – one of the most prolific Telugu producers of all time – and his uncle Venkatesh and cousin Naga Chaitanya are also both huge film stars.

Growing up in the industry, Daggubati was able to spot a growing demand for special effects, and in fact began his career as a visual effects producer, creating a company that worked on more than 70 films. After five years, he decided to switch to acting, and underwent two years of intensive training, including studying theatre.