Ashton Kutcher Invests in Iowa-Based Dwolla
Ashton Kutcher’s latest project isn’t in Hollywood, it’s in his native Iowa.
The "Two and A Half Men" star (and soon-to-be Steve Jobs impersonator), whose A-Grade Investments has previously helped get startups including Foursquare, Zaarly and Skype off the ground, has invested an undisclosed amount of money in Dwolla, a Des Moines-based startup.
The tech firm is working on an alternative payment system that would allow users to purchase items and transfer money online at a lower cost to merchants than credit cards. According to the Des Moines Register, the company has already raised $5 million in funding.
The amount of Kutcher’s investment was not revealed, except it’s enough that he hopes to be able “to build a killer (bleeping”) company in Iowa and put a bunch of people to work here,” he told The Register.
Dwolla, which currently has 20 employees, isn’t hiring quite yet, but according to Kutcher, it has the potential to employee a few hundred people in the coming years.
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