Serena Williams.Source: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File
American tennis star Serena Williams has grown accustomed to success, but now she’s helping other women and people of color “play to win” in the business world.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion will retire from playing in September 2022 and is now focusing on what she calls “Plan B”: her venture capital fund, Serena Ventures.
The organization was founded in 2014 when Williams discovered how underfunded founders are: women, people of color, and underrepresented entrepreneurs.
“One day I learned that less than 2% of VC money goes to women,” Williams said in a TikTok video last month.
“When I first heard that, I thought it was a misquote. I didn’t think that could happen.
“When I first started investing, I knew that it was real and that it was happening. So I knew right then and there that someday I wanted to raise funds and raise money to invest in women.”
@Serena My mission after tennis is to invest in us. Women, people of color, and diverse people. But it didn’t start after tennis. It started inside. I’m just doing it full time now. This is how I started. #foryou #fyp #makeup #business #investing #venturecapital #serenawilliams #serenaventures #momsoftiktok
♬ Original song – Serena Williams
Serena Ventures primarily invests in startup-founded women, people of color, and underrepresented groups. Of the 85 companies Serena Ventures has invested in, 79% have underrepresented founders, 54% are women, 47% are Black, and 11% are Latinx.
In a TikTok video, Williams revealed that 14 companies Serena Ventures has invested in have reached unicorn status. This means that the company’s value is now over US$1 billion.
“When you invest in these companies, often…[they]tend to do just as well, if not better, because they are led by women or people of color,” Williams said. he said.
“When people talk about diversity, it really means that everyone has a seat at the table and everyone has an opportunity to win. And that’s what I want to focus on. is.”
Williams said that as a Black woman, investing in women-led and POC-led businesses means a lot to her.
“Growing up in Compton, we were all entrepreneurs. We had to do it to survive. We were always given the same opportunities that others were given. Not that there are,” Williams said.
“We feel that women and people of color actually have an advantage because we often have to work harder to get to our destination. We have to fight harder because we are not given the same advantages.”
The lack of funding for female founders and other underrepresented groups in the US is similar in Australia. According to the figures, in 2023, Australian Startup Funding Status Reportstartups founded by women have secured just 4% of Australia’s $3.5 billion in startup funding, with all-male teams accounting for the majority of the 413 completed investment deals.
Recent data from NextGen Ventures, Australia’s first student-led VC fund, shows that over the past decade, just 3.9% of VC funding for Australian student startups went to all-female founders. Mixed-gender startups received 1.8% of the funding. The remaining 94.3% went to all-male founders.
This article was first published by women’s agenda.
