Kobe Bryant launches $100 million investment fund

Kobe Bryant, former NBA basketball star, after retiring from the world of sport, dedicated to finance. Together with the entrepreneur Jeff Stibel, he shares a venture capital fund of 100 million dollars.

As he told the Wall Street Journal, Bryant and Stibel have decided to officially launch their investment vehicle dedicated to the tech industry companies, media and data management only after the withdrawal of Kobe. In fact, the fund, based in Los Angeles, has been running since 2013, so as to have invested in a dozen companies.

The investments concern the sports news site The Players Tribune, the Scopely game designer, the LegalZoom legal services company, the company's software for telemarketing RingDna and Juicero, a company that produces juices. The couple has divided the tasks: Stibel puts the experience in building companies, Bryant helps with creativity in the field of marketing; the fund's logo is in fact about the former athlete.

As explained in the newspaper article, Bryant has some skill in identifying entrepreneurs with a strong work ethic so that the same said: "Sometimes you can find it right away, other times it is not so easy." In any case, he said, "If I had been asked ten years ago, I would have said that the important thing is to win. But age offers different perspectives. The thing that gives me more pleasure now is to help others to succeed."