Serena Williams raises over $100 million with 'Serena Ventures' firm

There is very little that Serena Williams has left undone on and off the court, and the WTA legend has taken another step in the business world as she recently revealed her venture capital firm has raised a staggering $111 million in an inaugural fund.

Serena Ventures is a firm that invests in founders and empowers them to "change the world". Williams started up her company nine years ago and has taken on a portfolio of more than 60 angel investments — all backed by the athlete’s own money.

An angel investor is an individual who uses their own funds to support a start-up company or project, an avenue that could only take Williams so far.

“As an angel investor, you can only do so much,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion told Black Enterprise. “I knew that I wanted to do a fund, but I worked backward, by using my own capital and then creating a track record and getting to know everyone.”

Williams started her firm when she saw first-hand what kind of impact start-ups can have on everyday lives. Her dedication has helped multiply this effort.

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Serena Ventures has since expanded its circle and partnered with other equity investment firms including Norwest and CapitalG. This has allowed the company to take investments to another level on a much larger scale.

“The ability to write bigger checks and the ability to lead seed rounds really enables us to deliver on our mission and to unlock value for our investors and open doors for founders.”

Williams stated this is not something that is new to her, and her experience and passion has helped make Serena Ventures the success it is today.

“This is something I’ve been doing for a really, really, really long time and it’s something that I absolutely love and I’m super passionate about.”