Serena Williams’ $100m Fund – How She Launched It

 

Serena Williams, the world’s best tennis player, raised over $100 million for her private equity fund. I’ll show you how she created it, structured it, and raised the money. Maybe you can learn from her success by the end of this video. Williams wanted to invest in underrepresented women and people of color in America through her private equity fund, Serena Venture Fund One L.P. To do this, she used the Regulation D 506B exemption and created a limited partnership in Delaware. Additionally, she created a general partnership and an investment manager known as an Investment Advisor. The Securities and Exchange Commission was notified about the capital raise. The information suggests that Williams likely had preexisting relationships with her investors, as the Regulation D 506B exemption allows for quiet, private capital raises. The investors on the Serena Ventures website are part of her team, indicating a lack of outreach to outside investors. (serena williams fund)

 

 

Kim Kardashian’s private equity fund is very different. In raising over $100 million in Washington D.C., Serena Williams created SJW Investments LLC as the investment advisor, connecting it to all future funds. She also created Serena Ventures Partners GP LLC as the general partner for a specific fund. The fund was raised using pre-existing relationships with investors, and its focus is on investing in companies to provide returns. It’s publicly known that the fund is a pool investment and venture capital fund, aiming to invest in standout deals for great results, likely without making control investments. In summary, Serena’s fame and specific investor relationships allowed her to quickly and privately raise capital without the need for a big campaign. She likely also invested some of her own money in the deals and in creating the fund, making her approach more relationship-driven than others. (serena williams fund)

The focus was not on capital raising, but rather on deploying capital as there was no need for a big campaign. Serena used her leverage to originate deals for the fund instead. She created three companies: the general partner, the investment advisor/investment manager, and the limited partner, which can be seen on the screen. Before launching the fund, she invested for nine years, building a track record and relationships with a few high-quality investors. It’s likely she used her close connections and put a significant amount of her own money into the deals. (serena williams fund)

This type of fund structure is best suited for someone who already has a lot of capital to deploy, only wants a few investors, and is more interested in originating deals than raising capital. It’s suited for family offices and those who don’t need to raise money as much as others. If you’re in this group, this type of fund structure may be for you. (serena williams fund)

 

Raises.com on LinkedIn

Book a call with Raises.com by clicking this link