Besides playing tennis, growing business is also one of the activities that Serena Williams excels in as she invested $1 million into another sports-related project via Serena Ventures.
Serena Williams supported a British sports venture, which focuses on finding sponsorship deals for athletes called the OpenSponsorship. As per thisismoney.co.uk, the 23-time Grand Slam champion invested $1 million dollars into the project which features sports stars such as LeBron James and Wayne Rooney.
Ishveen Jolly, a Manchester-born entrepreneur, launched OpenSponsorship, a website that connects athletes with sponsors. The cash will be used to expand the website's market in the United Kingdom, which it first debuted in the United States.
"I thought why is there not an efficient Airbnb-style company that helps sponsorship? We have a lot of athletes who are Olympians, but they want to be influencers as well. We had a company retreat recently in Miami and Serena spoke to the whole team. A big thing for her was championing the athletes who previously haven't had access to sponsorship. We're seeing a huge increase in coverage of women's sport, but sponsorship has lagged behind that."
Jolly was a former sports agent who was fed up with the time-consuming procedure of finding sponsors for sportsmen. In 2015, she founded OpenSponsorship. Williams' latest investment brings the firm's overall fundraising to $5.5 million. Crystal Palace co-owner David Blitzer and former NBA player Baron Davis are among the other investors.
As for Williams, while she remains active via her investments, the American will also want to focus on her tennis as she has recently hinted at a comeback at Wimbledon. The 23-time Grand Slam champion is still chasing her 24th major, and it can come anytime, but with every month that passes, it's less and less likely due to her age.
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