Investments must always be impactful: Serena Williams

Many companies talk about diversity, but they just talk about it. It’s because it’s a good subject that they bring up, but they don’t really do a lot of things about it

US tennis ace Serena Williams believes in investing only if it makes an impact on society at large. And that’s the reason she initiated her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, a few years ago.

Speaking at the Expert XP 2022, an investment convention in Sao Paulo, Brazil, recently, Williams, a 23-time major winner, said: “At Serena Ventures, we invest in women. We invest in women of color. We invest in people of colour. Many companies talk about diversity, but they just talk about it. It’s because it’s a good subject that they bring up, but they don’t really do a lot of things about it.

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But we do. We make an impact,” said Williams, 40, adding that over  60 startups have gone through her company and of these 13 have become unicorns—startups with a market value of over $1 billion. Besides, nearly 70 percent of SV’s investments go to companies whose founders are coloured women or people. “The way to change things is by having a black woman sign a cheque for other black women,” she added.

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