The stars who are hooked on start-ups

Why are A-listers so eager to pour cash into all things dotcom? Tom O'Meara investigates

Once upon a time, owning a private island or a luxury jet or supporting a high-profile cause was de rigeur for an A-list celebrity. Now, thought, the rich and famous are ploughing spare cash into online ventures. (...)

Music-related start-ups seem especially popular. Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant is an investor in live music site DeepRockDrive (...)

Peter Gabriel, the former frontman of Genesis, has invested a total of £3-£5 million into three online businesses, and says he's just about broken even.

"You're gambling," he says. "At my age, 59, what I want to be doing fun, interesting things with fun, interesting people." Gabriel also has a real interest in technology. "My dad was a sort of electrical engineer and inventor and although I didn't inherit his skills, I inherited his passion for what technology could do for people."

In a sense, it's an expensive hobby for Gabriel, who is an investor and part of the management team at the recommendation engine, The Filter, and has also put capital into the music site, We7. He has other fledgling projects in the pipeline, too.

"One is called TheMemory, which we describe as 'the first social network for the dead', and the other is Gabble, which is sort of a visual language for the internet," he says.

But not are all as fascinated with digital advancement as Gabriel. (...)