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ACTOR and businessman Ryan Reynolds is throwing his hat in the ring for another entrepreneurial endeavor – this time entering the ever-growing financial tech world.
Reynolds, 46, announced on Monday that he has invested in the Canadian fintech company Nuvei Corporation while admitting he knows very little about the industry.
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“I know about as much as fintech as I did about gin or mobile a few years ago,” the serial investor and husband to actress Blake Lively said in a press release.
“But Nuvei is impressive. The leadership team is exceedingly intelligent and hard-working and it’s about time a Canadian company got the type of attention American tech companies due.”
Although Reynolds currently lives in Los Angeles, he was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada.
This is the latest of a series of business endeavors started by the Deadpool star within the last five years.
MAXIMUM EFFORT
Reynold’s first large business investment was co-founding Maximum Effort Productions and Maximum Effort Marketing in 2018.
The later advertising business has created advertisements for a number popular companies including Peloton, Match.com, as well as several movies Reynolds has starred in like The Adam Project and Free Guy.
AVIATION GIN
The same year, Reynolds invested in Aviation Gin.
The actor is believed to have between a 20 and 25 percent share in the company.
In 2020, the company was sold for approximately $610 billion to the British drinks firm Diageo.
MINT MOBILE
In 2019, Reynolds then set his sights on the mobile phone industry, purchasing an ownership stake in Mint Mobile.
At the time, Reynold reportedly bought a quarter share of the company.
Most recently, communications giant T-Mobile announced it would be acquiring the mobile network for approximately $1.35 billion, according to CNN.
Due to his investment in the company, Reynolds was reported to take home $270–337.5 million from the deal.
He is expected to stay on in a creative role with the company.
WREXHAM
Reynold’s arguably most risky investment was purchasing the Welsh soccer team Wrexham AFC.
The Canadian purchased the club alongside actor Rob McElhenney in November 2020 for approximately $2.5 million.
At the time, the two didn’t know much about the sport and had never even met each other.
However, since then, they regularly make appearances at games and remain invested in the football team.
One of the pair’s goals for Wrexham is bringing them from the UK’s equivalent of the minor leagues into the financially prestigious Premier League.
FUBOTV
Through his production and advertising company Maximum Effort, Reynolds finalized a multi-year deal for unscripted content with FuboTV in August, according to Variety.
As part of the agreement, the streaming service is issuing Reynold’s company $10 million worth of shares of common stock in the company.
All original content produced will be jointly owned by Fubo and Maximum Effort.
Additionally, Reynold’s company plans to launch Maximum Effort Network, a channel to be featured on FuboTV, according to the outlet.
WEALTHSIMPLE
In May 2021, Reynolds joined several other celebrity investors in a deal with Wealthsimple Technologies Inc. – a Canadian investment management service, according to the Globe and Mail.
The investor group also included rapper Drake, actor Michael J. Fox, and NHL player Patrick Marleau.
Together, the group invested $750 million in the company.
The deal was headed up by US venture capital firms Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners.
OTTAWA SENATORS
In November 2022, the Canadian actor confirmed he was interested in acquiring the Ottawa Senators NHL team.
Reynolds told The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon that while he is interested in acquiring the hockey team, he can’t do it alone.
“I am trying to, it’s very expensive, so I need a partner with really deep pockets,” Reynolds said of buying the team.
“It’s called a consortium, when you form a group to buy an entity, and it’s such a fancy way of saying, ‘I need a sugar mommy or a sugar daddy,’ and if that doesn’t happen, I’ll buy a U.S. senator, which everyone can afford.”
The sports team was put up for sale in November, several months after the death of owner Eugene Melnyk, according to CBC.
NUVEI
Reynold’s most recent announcement marks a major step into the financial tech industry.
While his investment amount has not been disclosed by the actor or company, its shares rose as much as 1.6 percent before trading down 0.7 percent at 10:27 a.m. in Toronto, according to Bloomberg.
Alongside the formal announcement, Reynolds also released a video on social media highlighting the differences between the Canadian fintech company and its American counterparts.
Without listing any names, Reynolds appeared to poke fun at SpaceX founder and Twitter CEO Elon Musk in the 40-second clip, ensuring that Nuvei will never plan to build rockets and that its CEO Philip Fayer will keep a low social media presence.
Founded in 2003, Nuvei is a global payments company headquartered in Montreal.
Specifically, the company offers pay-in and payout options with up to 600 payment types including Visa, Paypal, Klarna, and more.
Nuvei serves a number of clients including Mastercard, lastminute.com, and ZeusX.
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