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by Jeroslyn JoVonn
April 7, 2024
Serena Williams just lately defined the groundbreaking work she’s doing along with her enterprise capital fund Serena Ventures.
Serena Williams just lately took trip of her day to clarify the groundbreaking work she’s doing along with her enterprise capital fund, Serena Ventures.
In an eight-minute TikTok video shared final month, the embellished tennis champion outlined her work as an investor and the businesses she’s seen attain new heights after serving as an early investor. Williams thought it could be “enjoyable” to replace her followers and followers on her life post-retirement from skilled tennis.
“One factor that I’ve been doing, that I’ve been doing for years and years and years is investments,” she shared whereas making use of her make-up.
“I put money into numerous firms. Early firms,” she added whereas noting the “early phases” an organization she invests in is usually in.
@serena My mission after tennis is investing in us! Girls, folks of coloration and variety. Nevertheless it didn’t begin after tennis. It began throughout. I simply do it full time now. Right here is how I began. #foryou #fyp #make-up #enterprise #investing #venturecapital #serenawilliams #serenaventures #momsoftiktok ♬ unique sound – Serenawilliams
It’s a well-recognized endeavor for Williams who has been investing for 14 years even whereas she was busy profitable titles on the tennis court docket.
“Simply been an entrepreneur whereas I used to be enjoying tennis. It was necessary for me to make a Plan B whereas I used to be doing my Plan A,” she defined.
The mom of two breaks down what she does as an investor and the greater than 85 firms she’s invested in inside her private portfolio. Williams additionally highlighted the 14 unicorn firms beneath her belt, which she explains are firms that go on to succeed in a valuation of $1 billion or extra.
“We’ve a few unicorns. Properly, truly 14 unicorns,” she mentioned.
Williams went on to checklist MasterClass as one of many firms she invested in early on that sparked her curiosity in pursuing VC funding additional. She found MasterClass when the employees was simply eight folks figuring out of a storage in San Francisco, and it helped her take into consideration the ladies and BIPOC-owned companies that additionally wanted monetary backing.
“I discovered that lower than 2% of all VC cash went to ladies. And after I first heard that, I truly thought it was a misquote,” she defined.
“I believed, ‘Properly, they will’t be actual.’ Like, we’re speaking about trillions of {dollars}, and what do you imply lower than 2% of that goes to ladies?…I discovered that after I first began investing, I discovered that truly was true and that was one thing that was taking place. And so I knew proper then and there that at some point I needed to lift a fund or increase cash and put money into ladies.”
She continued, “I additionally discovered that even much less went to folks of coloration. So I believed, ‘My goodness. I’m a Black girl and say my identify isn’t Serena Williams, or I hadn’t had a profession, meaning I might have lower than, effectively, not even lower than 2%, a fraction of an opportunity to get cash if I needed to start out an organization.’”
Since launching Serena Ventures, her fund’s portfolio contains 79% underrepresented founders, 54% ladies founders, 47% Black founders, and 11% Latino founders. Amongst her firm’s highlighted investments is the corporate Parfait. This Black-woman-owned wig customization platform gives all ladies with an AI-backed digital expertise with a variety of types.
“My portfolio sort of leans extra towards ladies and other people of coloration as a result of when persons are speaking about range that basically means everybody having a seat on the desk. Everybody having an opportunity to win,” Williams mentioned.
Different issues on her checklist embrace volunteering at her daughter’s college, incubating firms, and making use of her personal make-up.
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