Tennis icon Serena Williams says she is “super interested” in adding a WNBA team to her portfolio of investments.
Since “evolving away from tennis”, the 23-time grand slam champion has become a prolific investor inside and outside the sporting world, acquiring stakes in football with Angel City FC and golf with the Los Angeles Golf Club (LAGC), among other ventures.
Speaking to CNN, the 42-year-old says basketball is in her sights.
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“I absolutely would be (interested). With the right market, I would definitely be super interested in that,” she said.
Women’s basketball is enjoying arguably its greatest ever period, particularly in the US, having just smashed ratings records for the recent NCAA tournament, followed by a blockbuster WNBA draft.
Even before she moved away from tennis, Williams’s company Serena Ventures had invested in 66 startups, including 16 unicorns – companies valued at more than $1 billion.
She has also sought to champion traditionally underrepresented entrepreneurs; 78 per cent of the startups in which Serena Ventures had invested were started by women and people of colour.
And as an experienced investor, Williams says women’s sport is “an overly safe bet to me when it comes to investing.”
“There is no risk,” she said.
“Women’s sport is exciting, women are exciting to watch. What’s the difference?
“I think that even more people watched the college women’s basketball than the men. So, I think that people are realising that is exciting to watch.”
As well as investing in all these ventures herself, Williams has invested in her six-year-old daughter Olympia’s name, making her a part owner of both Angel City FC and LAGC.
Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian even said that that Olympia is now the youngest two-team owner in professional sports, and that their then-unborn daughter Adira was also a part owner of LAGC.
“It’s how I was raised when I was young,” Williams said of her decision to invest in her daughters’ names.
“My dad made us open our own bank accounts — and I’m talking like we were super young. Obviously, he and my mum had to co-sign, but we had $100.
“We were literally five or less, and we understood the importance of ownership.
“And so I think that she … will always know the importance of being an entrepreneur, being an owner and the role that it’s going to play because believe me, she’s going to work for it as soon as she can.
“This isn’t free; she has to work for that. And I think she will embrace that.”
– With CNN
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