After her tennis career, Serena Williams now wants to focus on her family and her venture capital firm. Venture capital firms invest in young and risky companies. Williams has already dealt with these investments during his career.
“It’s something I’ve really developed a passion for and something that has an impact on everyday life,” the legend of tennis describes his passion and motivation for investment on the “essentialsports” website. “I like to invest and I started after attending a seminar. A conference said that only 2 percent of venture capital goes to women, and neither people of color.
Too few women, too few people of color
After researching this statement, Williams co-founded Serena Ventures with Alison Stillman. A venture capital firm is an unusual industry, because in a male-dominated field, women are in the minority. William’s company management is mostly female. He does not want to include investors, but Williams has preferences:
“When you hire women and people of color, you tend to choose more diversity, which helps me say, okay. I shouldn’t just give my money to men, I should diversify it.”
Investments in around 60 companies so far
According to the tennis legend, 87 percent of the record consists of companies founded by women or people of color. There are strict rules when it comes to investing. “We don’t invest in fintechs or defense companies, consumer goods or technology. We want to make sure it has a positive impact on everyday life with ordinary people.”
Since founding in 2014, Serena Ventures has invested in more than 60 companies. The most well-known supported start-up is Clubhouse, otherwise the money is invested in sectors such as nutrition, education, fitness and the crypto economy.