NBA Legend, Kobe Bryant co-founds VC firm, Bryant Stibel
- Medvis Jackson
- Jan 9, 2017
- 2 min read
In August 2016, the Wall Street Journal formally announced the formation of Bryant Stibel, a venture capital firm co-founded by 3 time NBA World Champion, Kobe Bryant as well as investor and entrepreneur George Stibel. Based upon the reporting of Dennis Berman of WSJ, Bryant and Stibel are the only Limited Partners of the firm's $100 million dollar fund and were seeking no additional investors into the fund as of August 2016.
Although the announcement came in Q3 2016, the firm's website states that the fund has been in operation since 2013 to provide strategic, financial and operational support to startups.
So far, the duo has made 15 different "transactions" and investments in various companies. Two of the more notable companies Bryant Stibel have in their investment portfolio are Alibaba, the giant China-based ecommerce platform and Legal Zoom, a online legal concierge.
To date, according to Crunchbase, the firm has enjoyed two exits via company acquisition.
The large focus of Bryant Steibel portfolio is on data-centric platforms and tools, ranging from sales and marketing, real estate, smartwear and ecommerce applications.
Racial and Gender Diversity Numbers
Of the 20+ founders and cofounders with companies funded so far by Kobe Bryant and his partner George Stibel, just one of the founders, Derek Jeter of The Players Tribune and legendary professional baseball player, is African American.
The firm however has backed 7 Asian and Asian American co-founders as well as 4 women co-founders. Amongst the remaining founders, there is diversity in terms of career path and country of origin of the founders.
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Medvis Jackson is a curator at Kulchah, co-founder of #TheDigilogue and avid cricket fan. You can follow him @medvisjackson for his random thoughts. He primarily covers startup, tech and small business ecosystems and resources.
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