Kobe Bryant Launches A $100 Million Venture Capital Fund

Unsurprisingly, Kobe Bryant isn’t spending much time relaxing now that he is retired. Bryant, who played his final season with the Lakers in 2015-’16, has announced his next move as a venture capitalist and is currently co-managing a $100 million fund.

Bryant and business partner Jeff Stibel have launched Bryant Stibel, a $100 million fund for investing in tech, media and data companies.

Dennis K. Berman and The Wall Street Journal had the scoop.

Mr. Bryant, who turns 38 Tuesday, isn’t going it alone: He is partnering with 43-year-old Jeff Stibel, a longtime entrepreneur and investor who was introduced to Mr. Bryant by a mutual friend. They have named their firm Bryant Stibel and will be based in the Los Angeles area.

 

The two have been invested in 15 companies since 2013, but only after Mr. Bryant’s retirement from basketball have they decided to formalize their relationship and fund.

 

The two men are contributing the $100 million—which they expect to invest over the next few years—and aren’t seeking outside investors yet.

 

Current investments include sports media website The Players Tribune, videogame designer Scopely, legal-services company LegalZoom, a telemarketing-software firm called RingDNA and a home-juicing company called Juicero.

The article also revealed that Kobe has been holding 6 a.m. workouts with younger NBA players to help them improve.

“If you would have asked me 10 years ago, I would say I need to win now,” Mr. Bryant said. “Age tends to give you perspective. The most important thing I enjoy now is helping others be successful. I enjoy doing that much much more, that’s something that lasts forever, and hope they do that for the next generation.”