Nestle just spent $500 million for coffee chain - and made Instagram's CEO, Bono, Tony Hawk, and Jared Leto a lot of money

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Nestle just spent $500 million for coffee chain - and made Instagram's CEO, Bono, Tony Hawk, and Jared Leto a lot of money

blue bottle coffee

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

Blue Bottle Coffee in Oakland, CA.

Nestle is buying a majority stake in Blue Bottle Coffee, an Oakland-based coffee company valued at $700 million in the deal - and Silicon Valley is rejoicing.

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Why? Because since its inception in 2002, Blue Bottle Coffee had taken in over $120 million in funding from some of the tech industry's most prominent venture investors...and some of Hollywood's finest, to boot.

That means those investors are likely getting a nice payout with Thursday's deal.

Here's a brief list of some of the A-listers who are getting richer off the Blue Bottle deal.

  • Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, who invested in Blue Bottle all three times the company went after venture funding: Once each in 2012, 2014, and 2015.
  • Evan Williams, cofounder of Twitter.
  • "Shark Tank's" Chris Sacca, as well as his venture firm Lowercase Capital.
  • GV, the venture capital firm formerly known as Google Ventures.
  • Jared Leto, of "Suicide Squad" fame, who's actually a prolific startup investor.
  • Bono, the frontman of U2.
  • Pro skater Tony Hawk.
  • Morgan Stanley.

If this list proves nothing else, it's that the definition of a "tech company" is rapidly changing. For further evidence, look at Amazon's purchase of the Whole Foods grocery chain.

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Nestle is spending $500 million to take a 68% stake in Blue Bottle, the Financial Times reported Thursday. The deal values the 50-plus-location coffee chain and roastery at more than $700 million.

If a slow-drip pourover coffee company can qualify for this level of interest from Silicon Valley's top investors, then either everything is a tech company, or nothing is.

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