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Will Serena Williams Become The First Female Billionaire In Sports History?!
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Hey Friends,
Serena Williams is the greatest female tennis player of all time. She has 855 career wins. She has 73 Singles Titles. She has 23 Doubles Titles, and she has won a total of 23 Grand Slam Singles Titles — more than else in the history of tennis, male or female.
And that’s without even mentioning her 23 Doubles Titles, 14 Grand Slam Doubles Titles, or four Olympic Gold Medals. But you get the point; she wins a lot.
Serena Williams’ Tennis Resume
Overall Singles Titles: 73
Overall Doubles Titles: 23
Career Singles Wins: 855
Grand Slam Singles Titles: 23
Grand Slam Doubles Titles: 14
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles Titles: 2
Olympics: 4 Gold Medals
But now, she is officially stepping away from the game, announcing in Vogue on Tuesday that she will be “evolving” away from tennis after this year’s U.S. Open so that she can focus on her other passions — Serena Ventures and her family.
“I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me. A few years ago I quietly started Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm. Soon after that, I started a family. I want to grow that family.”
So with the U.S. Open kicking off later this month (August 29th), we are left with only a handful of opportunities to watch Serena play tennis: the Canadian Open (she plays tonight) and the Western & Southern Open (August 13th-21st).
But rather than talk about what Serena Williams has accomplished on the court—I think most people understand the numbers—I want to spend some time discussing what she has accomplished off the court, financially.
Serena has earned nearly $95 million in career prize money. That’s the highest number in the history of women’s tennis. It’s more than double her sister Venus Williams (#2 on the women’s all-time list), and it would even place her 4th on the men’s all-time career prize money list—behind Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer.
But Serena has also earned a staggering $350 million off the court, according to Forbes and Sportico, through an extensive sponsorship list that includes Nike, Wilson, Gatorade, Subway, Michelob Ultra, Audemars Piguet, Lincoln, Gucci, Beats by Dre, DIRECTV, Hanes, and more.
And that $450 million in career earnings (prize money + off-court earnings) makes her the highest-earning female athlete of all time. But she is also 40% higher than the second woman on the list, Maria Sharapova, who has $325 million in career earnings.
Still, I think Serena is probably just getting started and has a legitimate chance to become the first female billionaire in sports history.
Serena has been angel investing for more than a decade. She acquired equity in the Miami Dolphins when they were valued at less than $1 billion in 2009 (they are worth $4 billion-plus today). She invested in the UFC in 2016 and even launched her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, in 2014.
“I’ve always been fascinated with technology, and I’ve always loved how it really shapes our lives,” Serena Williams told The New York Times earlier this year. “When I met my husband, that was our first conversation. That’s how we met. I was talking about investments.”
Serena Ventures has six employees today, and they have invested in nearly seventy companies over the last nine years. That includes 16 unicorns (companies worth $1 billion or more) and six exits.
Serena Ventures Overview
Founded: 2014
Employees: 6
Investments: 67
Notable Investments
Tonal
Masterclass
Esusu
Liquid I.V.
Noom
Impossible Foods
Banza
Daily Harvest
Unicorns: 16
Exits: 6
But here’s the best part: After investing personal money for nearly a decade, Serena Ventures recently raised an inaugural $111 million fund. The money came from banks, private individuals, and family offices, and the goal is to “invest in founders with diverse points of view.” And that’s exactly what Serena is doing.
Founder Profile Statistics From SV Fund 1
Under-Represented Founders: 76%
Women Founders: 53%
Black Founders: 47%
Latino Founders: 12%
For context, Serena previously told the New York Times that she attended an event with Caryn Seidman-Becker, the chief executive of the security company Clear, and Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase. And when Caryn Seidman-Becker mentioned on stage that less than 2 percent of venture money goes to women, Serena didn’t believe her.
“I go up to her afterward and asked, ‘Tell me about this 2 percent — I know maybe you misspoke,’” Serena recounted. “And she says, ‘No, it’s true.’ And I literally couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that 98 percent of all of this money we’re talking about — billions of dollars — goes to one type of individual.”
So that’s when she decided to focus on founders with “diverse points of view.”
“Every morning, I’m so excited to walk downstairs to my office and jump onto Zooms and start reviewing decks of companies we’re considering investing in,” Serena Williams wrote in Vogue. “I wrote one of the very first checks for MasterClass. It’s one of 16 unicorns—companies valued at more than $1 billion—that Serena Ventures has funded, along with Tonal, Impossible Foods, Noom, and Esusu, to name a few.”
She continued, “This year we raised $111 million of outside financing, from banks, private individuals, and family offices. Seventy-eight percent of our portfolio happens to be companies started by women and people of color, because that’s who we are. On the other hand, my husband is white, and it’s important to me to be inclusive of everyone. Serena Ventures has been an all-female business until recently, when we brought in our first guy—a diversity hire!”
But jokes aside, investing isn’t the only focus for Serena Williams. She has ventured into film as the executive producer on King Richard. She has an independent clothing line named S by Serena. She signed a TV deal with Amazon Studios last year that includes a docuseries about her life and career, and she sits on the board of directors for several companies, including Momentive (parent company of SurveryMonkey) and Sorare (a blockchain-based fantasy sports game).
So while Serena Williams may be leaving professional tennis to grow her family and focus on investing, don't expect her to slow down anytime soon—she has way too many entrepreneurs to help!
I hope everyone has a great day. We’ll talk tomorrow.
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