World tennis champ Serena Williams through her Serena Ventures has raised US$111 million for an early stage venture capital fund with focus on diversity.
Serena Ventures LLC, founded in 2014 sets lens on backing founders from under-represented communities.
In an announcement on Wednesday, the firm said its first fund has raised $111 million.
The fund will “invest in founders with diverse points of view,” according to The New York Times.
The company has made angel investments in about 60 brands, including Daily Harvest, Send Wave, Esusu and MasterClass.
“I’ve always been fascinated with technology, and I’ve always loved how it really shapes our lives,” said Ms. Williams, who has been investing for nine years. “When I met my husband, that was our first conversation. That’s how we met. I was talking about investments.” Ms. Williams’s husband is the Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion just last month through Serena Ventures invested in Nestcoin, a Nigeria-based web3 startup aiming to make cryptocurrency more accessible.
The founding partners of Serena Ventures are Ms. Williams and Alison Rapaport Stillman. Ms. Williams’s other business activities include fashion lines, entertainment deals and a seat on the board of Poshmark.
