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Serena Williams grew up in Compton, California, with a racket in her hand and a father who drew up a plan before she was old enough to understand what a plan was. Richard Williams wrote a 78-page document outlining how he would raise two daughters to become the greatest tennis players in the world. He was not wrong about either of them.
Williams turned professional at 14. What followed over the next two and a half decades was one of the most dominant athletic careers in sports history. She won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any player in the Open Era. She won four Olympic gold medals. She earned $94.6 million in prize money, the highest total ever recorded by a female tennis player. And somewhere along the way, she quietly started building a second career that may end up being just as consequential as the first.
The investor who was still playing tennis
In 2014, while still competing at the highest level of professional tennis, Williams launched Serena Ventures. There was no press release. No announcement. She simply started deploying capital into early-stage companies, building a portfolio before most people knew she was doing it.
The strategy was deliberate. Williams understood that celebrity investors who announce funds without track records face skepticism from serious founders. She built the record first. By the time the fund became public knowledge, her portfolio already included Coinbase, MasterClass, Noom and Impossible Foods, companies that would go on to achieve valuations exceeding $1 billion.
In 2022, timed precisely with her retirement announcement from professional tennis, Serena Ventures publicly closed its inaugural fund at $111 million. Every outlet covering her departure from tennis also covered her entry into institutional venture capital. The earned media value was significant. The marketing spend was zero.
The firm now holds a portfolio of more than 85 companies. Fourteen have achieved unicorn status. Over 79 percent of portfolio companies have underrepresented founders, including 54 percent women-founded, 47 percent Black-founded and 11 percent Latino-founded businesses. Williams describes this not as charity but as arbitrage. Founders overlooked by traditional venture capital represent underpriced opportunities. The returns support the thesis.
In June 2025, Serena Ventures unveiled a $12 million initiative at Cannes Lions to back up to 200 startups focused on global health and hygiene, with a target of reaching five million people with life-saving innovations by 2030. The program prioritizes women entrepreneurs.
Beyond venture capital
Williams has built a portfolio that extends well past her venture fund. In 2009, she and her sister Venus became the first Black Americans to hold an ownership stake in an NFL franchise when they acquired a minority share in the Miami Dolphins. At the time, the team was valued at approximately $1.1 billion. By January 2024, that valuation had risen to $5.7 billion.
She is also an investor in Angel City FC, the National Women's Soccer League franchise based in Los Angeles, part of a group of high-profile women who have backed the club since its founding in 2020.
On the consumer brand side, Williams launched Will Perform, a pain relief and performance care brand, in December 2022. In April 2024, she founded WYN Beauty, a makeup brand positioned around movement and endurance. Both companies reflect her background as an athlete while targeting mainstream consumer markets.
She married Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, in 2017. They have two daughters. Williams has spoken openly about the near-fatal complications she experienced following the birth of her first daughter in 2017, and her continued investment in maternal health companies reflects that personal experience alongside a clear market opportunity.
Her net worth stands at an estimated $340 million, the product of prize money, a Nike partnership that generated an estimated $55 million at initial signing and has been extended multiple times, and an investment portfolio that continues to compound.
Williams retired from professional tennis in September 2022. She did not retire from building. That part, it appears, is only getting started.
