Jessica Alba On Board Planet of the Apps

LOS ANGELES: Jessica Alba has joined the new unscripted series Planet of the Apps as a mentor and advisor, while Silicon Valley company Lightspeed Venture Partners has signed on as the venture-capital partner.

In addition to her role as mentor and advisor, Alba, who founded The Honest Company, will serve as an executive producer on the series, which is co-produced by Propagate and Apple. She joins Gwyneth Paltrow, will.i.am and Gary Vaynerchuk, who already came on board Planet of the Apps as mentors and advisors. Like Alba, Paltrow and will.i.am are also executive producing.

Lightspeed Venture Partners is an early-stage venture-capital firm that has committed more than $10 million in capital to fund the apps created on the show. The firm is focused on accelerating innovation and trends in the consumer and enterprise sectors. Lightspeed Venture Partners was the first investor in Snapchat and The Honest Company.

“We are so excited to have Jessica join the Planet of the Apps team as a mentor and executive producing partner,” said Propagate’s Ben Silverman, who serves as an executive producer. “Her business insight and experience as an entrepreneurial visionary will be invaluable to the app developers selected for the series.”

“I started The Honest Company because I saw an opportunity in the market for a brand that spoke to conscious consumers and created safe and effective products for every need,” added Alba. “As a mentor on Planet of the Apps, I’m looking forward to meeting entrepreneurs looking to address a problem with an innovative solution, and to help them realize their vision. I can’t wait to see the ideas the app developers bring to the table.”

“We searched far and wide for a venture capital firm at the forefront of the tech industry to partner with on Planet of the Apps, and had many different VC players approach us,” commented Howard T. Owens of Propagate, who also executive produces the project. “We are very fortunate to have Lightspeed join the series in this capacity. Lightspeed and Jeremy Liew, who leads the firm’s consumer investing practice, are recognized as top investors who can identify and help nurture some of the most lasting and meaningful tech companies in the world. Our partnership ensures that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for new business creators and that this show is truly the first of its kind.”

“Consumer technology has become popular culture, as our portfolio companies like Snapchat have demonstrated,” said Jeremy Liew, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “We’re excited to work with Apple and visionaries from the tech and entertainment space to discover and enable the next generation of apps that will also become popular culture.”