Serena Williams raises $111 million for new venture fund

Serena Williams’ early-stage venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, has raised an inaugural fund of $111 million that will invest in founders with diverse viewpoints, she said. The tennis star-led investment firm is already an active angel investor, with a portfolio of 60 companies that includes SendWave, MasterClass and Daily Harvest.

“I’ve always been fascinated by technology and I’ve always loved how it really shapes our lives,” said Williams, who has invested for nine years. “When I met my husband, that was our first conversation. That’s how we met. I was talking about investments.” Williams’ husband is Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

Williams, who holds 23 tennis Grand Slam titles, was inspired by a conversation between Caryn Seidman-Becker, CEO of security firm Clear, and Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan Chase.

Onstage at one event, Seidman-Becker said less than 2% of venture investing goes to women.

“I went up to her afterwards and asked, ‘Tell me about that 2% — I know maybe you got it wrong,'” Williams said. “And she said, ‘No, it’s true.’ And I literally couldn’t understand the fact that 98% of all this money we’re talking about — billions of dollars — goes to one type of individual.” Serena Ventures does not require its founders to come from historically underrepresented backgrounds, although it says that is the case for approximately three-quarters of founders of companies in its portfolio.

The founding partners of Serena Ventures are Williams and Alison Rapaport Stillman. Williams’ other business activities include fashion lines, entertainment businesses and a seat on the Poshmark board. Rapaport Stillman previously worked at JPMorgan, Wasserman and Melo7 Tech. The fund’s limited partners include Norwest, Capital G (Alphabet’s growth fund) and LionTree.