Former NBA star Kobe Bryant has teamed up with investor Jeff Stibel to launch a $100 million venture capital fund.
The new venture capital fund started by Kobe Bryant and Jeff Stibel is named Bryant Stibel. These two are providing the $100 million and are interested in investing in companies with a focus on media, data and technology. The new venture capital fund is based in Los Angeles and it currently isn’t looking for outside investors.
This isn’t actually the first time that Kobe Bryant and Jeff Stibel have worked together. The two have been funding over 15 companies together since 2013. It’s only now that Bryant has retired from the NBA that they decided to create the Bryant Stibel venture capital fund. The two said that their skills compliment each other and will help with the fund, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Jeff Stibel has the knowledge of creating companies on his side and Kobe Bryant is experienced with marketing and branding. He also designed the new venture capital funds logo. Several other athletes have also ventured into the business world after finishing their sports careers, with varying levels of success.
“He was bringing the same obsessive work ethic to learning about start-ups that he does to training,” Chris Sacca, a venture investor, told Vanity Fair earlier this year about Kobe Bryant’s interest in startups. “This is a very unique personality type that I only see in some of our very best entrepreneurs.”
It’s currently unknown how well the 15 investments that Kobe Bryant and Jeff Stibel have made are performing.
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