Tennis star Serena Williams has pumped more than $1 million (£760,000) into a British sports venture
American tennis legend Serena Williams has invested more than USD 1 million in a British sports venture named OpenSponsorship.
Serena Williams investing in a Sports PlatformOpenSponsorship is a sports marketing platform that helps connect sponsors with top athletes and sports teams all over the world. The platform currently has 11,000 athletes across 160 sports and is disrupting the USD 60 billion sponsorship industry by providing brands with a flexible way to acquire sponsorship deals.
The platform was first launched in the USA by entrepreneurs Manchester-born Ishveen Jolly and Ron Nesbitt. Ishveen grew up playing various kinds of sports across England. She later went on to study at Oxford and got interested in sponsorship marketing.
Ishveen got frustrated with the complex process of finding sponsors for athletes. She discovered that the process was inefficient and slow-moving. Therefore, she decided to start OpenSponsorship in 2016.
While talking about the launch of OpenSponsorship, Ishveen Jolly said, 'I thought why is there not an efficient Airbnb-style company that helps sponsorship?'
The website will use the funds invested by Serena Williams to enter the United Kingdom market. Former British swimmer Charlie Turner will be soon joining the board of OpenSponsorship.
Ishveen Jolly further added, “We have a lot of athletes who are Olympians, but they want to be influencers as well.
'We had a company retreat recently in Miami and Serena spoke to the whole team. 'A big thing for her was championing the athletes who previously haven't had access to sponsorship.
"We're seeing a huge increase in coverage of women's sport, but sponsorship has lagged behind that.
Serena Williams invested in her firm Serena Ventures. The firm has earlier invested in tech start-ups Propel and Cointracker.
The investment from Serena Williams takes the total amount of funds raised by OpenSponsorship to USD 5.5 million. Former basketball player Baron Davis and part-owner of Crystal Palace, David Blitzer.
OpenSponsorship has helped brands such as Foot Locker, Neptune Ice and Vitamine Shopee to find athletes and even teams for endorsements, events and product placements. Basketball star LeBron James and former footballer Wayne Rooney have also signed up on the platform.