Kobe Bryant has been very busy during his retirement and now he has a new venture. The former Lakers superstar set up a $100 million venture capital fund that will make investments in technology, media and data companies.
According to Business Insider, Bryant has teamed up with tech entrepreneur and investor Jeff Stibel to launch Bryant Stibel, which will be based in Los Angeles. They have already invested in 15 businesses together since 2013, including sports media website The Players Tribune, telemarketing software company RingDNA, and video game design firm Scopely.
They hope the fund will offer a complementary combination of their skillets. Stibel was the former chief executive of public tech company Web.com. He also founded a number of other tech and marketing companies and is a brain scientist. Bryant on the other hand, is expected to offer his creative and marketing expertise. In fact, Bryant has designed the Bryant Stibel logo himself.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Bryant noted that people may draw the comparison between his fund and that of New York Knicks basketballer Carmelo Anthony, who set up early-stage investment fund Melo7 Tech Partners, or his former Los Angeles Lakers’ teammate Shaquille O’Neal, who has also made a series of investments in invested in technology and media startups.
Bryant said: “I think it’s interesting that the immediate reaction from people would be competitiveness between myself and others. I’m more interested in how I can help Shaq, Melo [Anthony] or [NBA player Andre] Iguodala.”
Bryant Stibel are not currently seeking outside funding.
