Serena Williams

You know her as the greatest tenniswoman of all time.

She held the No. 1 spot in women’s singles for 319 weeks.

Won 23 Grand Slam titles.

4 Olympic golds.

You guessed it?

I’m talking about Serena Williams.

But did you know she now runs a $100M VC fund?

In 2014, while still crushing the tennis world, Serena launched Serena Ventures.

A VC firm built to challenge everything broken about the funding landscape.

At the time, she discovered a stat that made her stop in her tracks: less than 2% of venture funding goes to women.

Even less to Black women.

“I thought it was a typo,” she said.

It wasn’t.

So she decided to do what she’s always done.

Build her own power. Then share it.

Today, Serena Ventures has invested in over 85 companies.

79% are founded by underrepresented individuals
54% by women
47% by Black founders

14 of those companies have reached unicorn status.

Let that sink in.

She backed HUED, a health startup improving care for Black and Latinx communities.

She funded Parfait, an AI-powered wig company led by Black women.

She saw promise in MasterClass when it was eight people in a garage.

Today, it’s worth $2.75B.

She bet on Impossible Foods, Noom, Karat, Tonal, and more.

Brands changing how we eat, learn, and live.

And her team? 100% women. 100% diverse.

At INBOUND 2024, Serena said it best: “Everyone wanted to beat me every single day I stepped on the court. That mindset? I brought it into venture. I’m always overperforming.”

But she’s not just investing in founders.

She also executive produced Netflix’s upcoming tennis drama Carrie Soto Is Back.

Yes, Serena Williams will go down in history as one of the greatest athletes of all time.

But the story doesn’t end with a trophy.

It begins with a question: What if we gave underestimated founders the funding they deserve?

Serena’s building that future.