Serena Ventures aims to be an “inclusive player” in the venture capital ecosystem, the 23-time major tennis champion said upon the $111 million news.
Serena Williams has mastered the serve on the tennis court — she’s etched in the WTA record books for her penchant for aces. But if we’re talking about service in all its forms, her most impactful ace of all could be Serena Ventures.
As founding and managing partner, Williams announced Tuesday that the venture capital firm has raised $111 million for an inaugural fund meant to boost early-stage startup companies.
“Quite frankly, the reason I started Serena Ventures was because I feel like the venture capital ecosystem really needs an inclusive player — and a player with a platform to make the necessary intact change at scale,” Williams said during an appearance with CNBC on Tuesday. “We have that opportunity here. We’re looking at fintech, we’re looking at marketplaces as well, and femtech. I’d like to use my brand to reach that need and to fill that void that the market has.”
According to its official website, Serena Ventures has “nine years of angel investing under our belt.” The company’s portfolio of 60 angel investments includes Billie, Cointracker, Masterclass, Daily Harvest, and Tonal.
“In an ecosystem where solo women founders receive 2% of venture funding and Black founders receive 1.2%, we break the mold,” the website promises. “We don’t require founders to come from historically underrepresented backgrounds, yet 76% of our portfolio founders do. We bet on the best founders, period.”
In December, Michael B. Jordan called on Serena Ventures and Charles D. King’s MaC Venture Capital to award Black entrepreneurs $1 million in structured startup investments as part of the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic basketball event. Watch what Boardroom captured below:
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