Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Business
Business

Serena Williams Is Making Moves Off the Court, Joins $4 Billion Blockchain Firm Sorare as a Board Adviser

Posted byBy Finurah Contributor | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Tennis champ and financier Serena Williams is now a board adviser for the $4.3 billion blockchain-based fantasy soccer game Sorare. 

Currently, Sorare has IP license deals with 230 men’s soccer clubs and leagues. Expansion plans this year include adding at least two American sports, including women’s sports. Williams’ presence will help on that end. 

Serena Williams (Photo from https://www.serenaventures.com/)

“When you have the ambition to build the biggest entertainment group in the world of sports, and you have the opportunity to partner with one of the greatest athletes in history, you want that perspective,” Sorare CEO Nicolas Julia told Forbes.

 “When we think of web3, and we think of crypto: that’s going to be the biggest space for the next several years in terms of growth,” she said. 

Williams has her own venture capital firm Serena Ventures, which focuses on early-stage companies, especially Black-owned ventures. Launched in 2014, Serena Ventures has invested in 50+ early-stage start-ups. 

“When I’m talking about Serena Ventures, we invest in women, we invest in people of color, that’s our thing,” Williams told Forbes. “68% or 70% of our portfolio are companies founded by women or people of color.” 

Serena Ventures has funded multiple crypto companies, including Lolli, an e-commerce site that gives customers rewards in bitcoin for their purchases; Bitski, an NFT marketplace along with hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. 

Williams also has a connection to soccer. Women’s soccer club Angel City FC was founded by Serena Williams along with celebrities Natalie Portman, Abby Wambach, Julie Uhrman, and Ohanian, Forbes reported.

Read full story on Finurah here.

More news from our partners:

‘Unsafe Conditions Failed Them!’: Ben Crump Files Lawsuits on Behalf of Six Families Impacted By Deadly Bronx Fire

“Players Who Are Getting Paid Don’t Deserve To Get Paid”| Stephen A. Smith Calls Out NBA Players’ “Shenanigans,” Say Owners Are “Coming For Them”

‘I Will Take It All Off the Table’: Comedian Dave Chappelle Helps Torpedo Affordable Housing Project In Tiny Ohio Community He Lives In

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top