Eric Schmidt and Lady Gaga Invest in Social Media Startup

Google GOOG chairman Eric Schmidt and pop diva Lady Gaga reportedly are among investors in Backplane, a new startup co-founded by Lady Gaga's business manager Troy Carter. The social media platform will power online communities around specific interests, such as sports teams and musicians, and will integrate feeds from Facebook and Twitter. Schmidt's Tomorrow Ventures is leading the angel round, which is currently at more than $1 million. Gaga, who has more than 10 million Twitter followers, owns a 20% stake and will also act as an advisor. The idea for the site reportedly came after Steve Jobs asked Carter and Gaga to provide feedback for Ping, Apple's AAPL music-focused social network. Carter believed he could find a better way to help artists maintain a web presence and so created the new platform with his entrepreneur and business partner Matthew Michelsen. Backplane is scheduled to launch later this month.