Through Serena Ventures, the $111 million fund she co-founded, Williams has backed more than 85 companies, including 16 unicorns. Think Glossier, Warby Parker, Daily Harvest, Esusu, and even Unrivaled, the buzzy women’s basketball league that scored a $340 million valuation in its latest round. Not a bad track record for a fund that only launched in 2022.
But here’s the twist: founders aren’t dazzled by big names alone anymore. “Founders are getting more choosy,” Williams said at the NYC Summit, where she and general partner Beth Ferreira shared the stage with policy heavyweights and AI innovators. Ferreira doubled down: “If they don’t believe our network and ideas can change outcomes, we’re not getting in the deal.”
That honesty works both ways. Williams and Ferreira aren’t spraying checks around like they did a few years back. Instead, they’re digging deeper into whether startups are truly solving the problems they claim to tackle. The mantra? Not all money is good money.
And while Williams’ name draws headlines, she’s quick to set the record straight: she’s a partner, not the day-to-day operator. Ferreira leads the four-person investment team, steering strategy and portfolio management with a steady hand.
What’s next for Serena Ventures? For one, the firm has embraced AI as a co-pilot — using tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to help them scout and support bold founders. The philosophy is simple: human vision, accelerated by smart tech.
Williams also hinted (with a lawyerly wink) that a second fund could be on the horizon. But no matter what, she made one thing clear: Serena Ventures isn’t a one-and-done experiment. “We are not here to do one fund,” she said.
In other words: the game has changed, the competition is tougher, but Williams and her team are more than ready to keep swinging for the fences.
In a nutschell TLDR: Even with 23 Grand Slam titles, Williams jokes that she doesn’t get an automatic “yes” when pitching founders. Ferreira describes today’s funding world as less of a sprint and more of a marathon, where patience pays off. The fund has even cashed out of billion-dollar companies when it made sense — proving discipline is part of the playbook. By leaning into AI tools, Serena Ventures hopes to spot promising founders before the crowd does. Williams’ empire now stretches from tennis trophies to tech unicorns, with no sign of slowing down. If venture capital is the new arena, Serena Ventures is here not just to compete — but to redefine what winning looks like.
