While other celebrities are recording a significant decline in their wealth figures, Serena Williams, one of America’s wealthiest Black women and one of the greatest female tennis players of all time, has seen her net worth rise by $20 million since the beginning of the year.
Data tracked by Billionaires.Africa revealed that Williams, who became the first athlete to appear on Forbes’ annual list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women in 2019, has seen her net worth increase by $20 million, from $240 million at the start of the year to $260 million at the time of writing this report.
The majority of her recent multimillion-dollar net worth gain can be credited to earnings from different endorsement deals with leading brands such as U.S. sportswear giant Nike and leading investment bank JPMorgan Chase.
The surge in her net worth can also be attributed to the success of some of her investments in businesses, which she made through the venture capital firm Serena Ventures, which she formed in 2017.
Williams’ net worth has climbed by $35 million since 2019, when she was added to Forbes’ annual list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women, from $225 million to $260 million.
Despite declaring her retirement from tennis at the U.S. Open in September, she has earned a total of $29 million in the past 12 months, the most of her career. She has more than a dozen corporate partners, and her $94 million in career prize money is twice as much as any other female athlete has made.
Serena Ventures, her venture capital firm, announced in March that it had secured $111 million from investors with a portfolio of 60 firms that included MasterClass and the healthy frozen food service DailyHarvest.
The venture capital firm in October teamed up with other institutional investors to invest $3.3 million in Stears Inc. in a seed round led by MaC Venture Capital, just one week after leading a $12.3-million investment in a Ugandan fintech company.
