Recorded on November 14, 2023
Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, also known as “The Chainsmokers,” are hugely successful in the competitive world of electronic music. Named the highest-paid electronic duo in 2019 according to Forbes magazine, the pair have also taken home a Grammy award, two American Music Awards, and seven Billboard Music Awards.
Now that their position in the music industry is well-established, the dynamic pair are looking to make a name for themselves in a completely different arena: the high-stakes world of venture capital. In 2020, they joined entrepreneurs Milan Koch and Jeffrey Evans to launch their fund Mantis Venture Capital, with a focus on early-stage tech startups. Since its inception, Mantis VC has raised over $110 million with capital infusions from investment moguls including Mark Cuban, Keith Rabois, Jim Coulter, and Ron Conway. To date, Mantis VC has invested in nearly 200 pioneering companies across various industries including healthcare, education, finance, and of course, music.
We hope you will join us for an engaging session as Alex Pall and Drew Taggart discuss their journey as artists, plus how they went from seed investors to building a thriving business around their investment strategy. They will also share why they call themselves “founder obsessed” and explain how they are taking the principles that helped them achieve success as musicians into the world of Venture Capital.
About The Chainsmokers:
An electronic production duo featuring Drew Taggart and Alex Pall, the Chainsmokers mix indie, dance, and pop into a chart-topping sound that’s spawned multiple multi-platinum singles.
The pair released their official debut single in 2014, a number one dance hit called “#Selfie” that both celebrated and skewered 2010s narcissism. Two Top Ten pop hits, “Roses” and the GRAMMY-winning “Don’t Let Me Down,” followed in 2016, each of them certified at least five-times platinum. “Closer,” featuring Halsey on vocals, also began climbing to the top during the summer of 2016, remaining there for 12 weeks and eventually earning 12-times platinum status. In 2017, Taggart and Pall switched up their aggressive EDM approach to include more pop and indie rock touches, but they remained a platinum act with singles including 2017’s “Something Just Like This” featuring Coldplay. That song was included on their full-length debut, Memories: Do Not Open, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Starting in 2018, the Chainsmokers released a single each month, later collected on Sick Boy (2018) and World War Joy (2019). Following the duo’s soundtrack work on 2020’s Words on Bathroom Walls, they again hit the Top 40 with 2022’s “High” from fourth set So Far So Good, before collaborating on tracks with Cheyenne Giles, Bludnymph, and others in 2023.
