Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone is relishing her latest role — that of start-up investor.

Dressed in a bubble-gum pink denim outfit with nude Louboutins and wearing a huge diamond wedding ring, the 33-year-old Indian movie star is surprisingly approachable, even chatty when we meet. As our interview at the luxury Sofitel hotel in Mumbai is about to start, she takes charge, directing everyone, politely but firmly, to put their phones on silent.

“Why do I want to invest? One is the risk factor, one is the excitement factor,” said Ms Padukone, who has appeared in a Hollywood film alongside action star Vin Diesel and featured on an American Vogue cover this year. “From my perspective, it’s really about having more skin in the game and moving away from the vanilla endorsements.”

Ms Padukone is the highest-paid female Bollywood star, earning more than Rs1.1bn ($16m) in 2018, according to Forbes India. In 2017 she launched KA Enterprises, a fully owned holding company, to capitalise on her wealth and brand — estimated by consultancy Duff & Phelps to be worth more than $100m — by investing directly in companies.

“The way I invest is exactly the way I would choose any of my film scripts: follow your gut,” she says of being a shareholder. “When it’s a more collaborative process, whether it’s about the business or the creative side of it, there’s a lot more involvement, which just makes it a lot more exciting.”

Ms Padukone’s first investments were in typical celebrity sectors of design, beauty and health. KA Enterprises has backed Furlenco, a furniture rental company, Purplle, an online beauty store, and Epigamia, a yoghurt company that has raised $25m from French food group Danone. But her most recent foray was to take part in a $3m funding round for Bellatrix Aerospace, a Bangalore-based company developing satellite propulsion systems.

“I think more about doing something that’s out of the box, doing something that’s innovative,” said Ms Padukone of Bellatrix. “When you find like-minded people who have the same vision and mission, you know instantly that you’re on the right path.”

The founders of Bellatrix were equally impressed. “I did not expect Deepika to be so interested in tech,” said 27-year-old co-founder Rohan Ganapathy. “The best thing was that she was a good listener, she took a lot of time to understand the business. I didn’t expect that from a Bollywood star.”

If it aligns with their philosophy, the partnership can help them achieve their personal vision

In this Kardashian era where social media has upended traditional marketing strategies, Bollywood stars are looking to India’s start-ups to drum up publicity and maximise their wealth. Along with multiyear advertisement contracts, celebrities are striking endorsement deals in exchange for equity, an arrangement that offers both publicity and potential future profits.

Fellow actress Priyanka Chopra invested in Bumble, a dating app where female users make first contact with potential dates, as it expanded in India. Actor Shahid Kapoor invested in yoga and wellness start-up Sarva as part of a $5m friends and family funding round that included American pop star Jennifer Lopez. Other celebrities have backed companies from fitness to baby product companies.

Start-ups in India raised a record $3.9bn from venture capitalists in the first six months of 2019, according to Venture Intelligence, a start-up data provider. Investors see huge potential for growth in the country as a rising middle class has more money to spend.

“Typically the average funding range could be a few million dollars to $10m,” said Aviral Jain, Duff & Phelps director. “For the celebrity it means a brand extension and more sources of revenue.”

Bollywood stars are starting to show greater sophistication in their investments and want to be more involved in the strategic direction of the companies, said Ramanreet Singh, also at Duff & Phelps. “In the past, celebrities would exchange endorsement services in exchange for equity,” said Mr Singh, “but now they just don’t want to have an equity stake, they also want to have a mentorship role. It’s a realisation that their brand can be extended into so much more.”

For the start-ups, an endorsement from a Bollywood star, who are often worshipped like royalty, can catapult a company into the mainstream. “We realised that to get to our goal of 50m subscribers, we needed someone with that kind of reach and impact,” said Jitendra Chouksey, founder of Squats, an online coaching platform based in Pune, Maharashtra.

In May, action star Suniel Shetty came onboard. “Why wouldn’t he?” said Mr Chouksey. “If it aligns with their philosophy, the partnership can help them achieve their personal vision, which happened in our case. We didn’t approach him, he just called us.”

When Arjun Kapoor, an actor who comes from an illustrious Bollywood family, invested in Foodcloud, a food delivery service, the company immediately saw the impact. “We’ve seen a nice big spike in sales and very exciting opportunities opened up in terms of strategic alliances,” said founder Vedant Kanoi.

Less than two years into her journey as an investor, Ms Padukone says “it has been a learning experience”. So far she has no regrets. “It allows me to tap into completely new facet or personality of myself,” she said. “To sum it up, I just find it exciting.”