Hakeem “Chamillionaire” Seriki invested in Lyft in 2015, years before it went public, and he’s still bullish on the ride-sharing company.

Nas, a founding partner in Queensbridge Venture Partners, was also an early Lyft investor. His celebrity status as one of the most influential hip-hop artists ever helped elevate Lyft’s reputation. Lyft is one of Queensbridge’s notable exits, according to Crunchbase.

The entrepreneur and Grammy award-winning Chamillionaire said he and a few others — Big Boi from Outkast and Trey Songz — got excited about investing in the ridesharing space in 2014.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 47: Diishan Imira Jamarlin talks to Diishan Imira, founder and CEO of Mayvenn, a platform that empowers hair stylists to take back ownership of the beauty market.

“I think there’s a lot of potential in the company so I’m going to keep some of my stocks,” Chamillionaire said in a CNBC video released April 1.

Lyft had an initial public offering public on Friday, and stock rose more than 20 percent above its target price range before settling 9 percent higher. Stock continued falling on Monday, with Lyft shares sinking nearly 12 percent on their first full-length day of trading. Lyft’s stock closed just above $69 a share on Monday, well below the $88 level reached shortly after the IPO. Experts say it’s a sign that money-losing companies may not have as easy a time as they think going public in 2019, CNBC reported.

Lyft released its financial information for the first time about a month before the IPO. In a federal filing, the company said was growing fast but losing money and admitted it may never turn a profit.

Lyft eported $2.2 billion in revenue in 2018 – more than double its $1.1 billion in revenue in 2017, according to Associated Press.

Asked to share some pro tips on investing early in startups, Chamillionaire set the record straight about his reputation for being in it only for the money.

“My focus is not necessarily about money as much as people would think,” he said. “There’s a lot of miscommunication out there and people often post articles that I am trying to be a billionaire. That’s not actually the case.
I believe that this industry has a lot of value in it and this value hasn’t been given to my community. I’m trying to learn as much as I can, make a lot of investments so I can plant the seeds to help my family but then also bring a lot of other people in.

“I feel like a lot of these companies are disrupting the world. There are self-driving cars, there are electric buses, wireless charging and so much innovation that’s happening here and people from my world generally don’t have access to the stuff.

“My mission is to help a lot more people that look like me get into some of these companies. These companies are acquiring and a lot of liquidity events are happening. There’s a lot of non–accrediteds in the world who don’t have access to these companies, and I feel like it’s almost unfair. Now I get over here and I start to see deals close and flow. Luckily, the celebrity part of me allows me to get into places that other people can’t get into, and luckily that’s resulted in quite a few exits.”