Kobe Bryant and Jeff Stibel Unveil $100 Million Venture Capital Fund

SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Meet Kobe Bryant. Five-time NBA champion, 18-time NBA All Star, the 2008 Most Valuable Player, and now, venture capitalist.

The retired NBA star Monday unveiled his latest adventure — a $100 million venture-capital fund that will seek to invest in technology, media and data companies.

Bryant, who turns 38 years old on Tuesday, isn’t taking on this new challenge alone. He’ll have the help and guidance of a pretty seasoned veteran — Jeff Stibel, a longtime entrepreneur who was introduced to Bryant by a mutual friend. Fittingly, the firm has been named Bryant Stibel and will be based out of Los Angeles.

The duo have been invested in 15 companies since 2013, but it wasn’t until after Bryant’s retirement from basketball at the end of this season that the two made the formal decision to formalize their investments and a fund. The $100 million is coming from the pockets of both, all of which they expect to be fully invested in the next few years. They aren’t accepting any outside investors, currently.

The portfolio currently includes investments in companies like The Players Tribune, videogame designer Scopely, legal-services company LegalZoom, a telemarketing-software firm called RingDNA and a home-juicing company called Juicero.

They’ve already agreed on an investment model, also.

“We don’t want to be in the business of investing in companies so someone can use Kobe as an endorser. That’s not interesting,” said Stibel, who began his career in brain research and later founded and developed tech companies. “The point is to add real value.”

Bryant, who was known in NBA circles for his relentless training and painstaking preparation, said he also brings the ability to identify entrepreneurs with a robust work ethic.

“Sometimes you can spot it right away, other times not so much,” Bryant said. “It’s the inner belief that a person has that he will endure no matter what the obstacle may be. It’s that persistence, the entrepreneur doing what he or she truly believes in and truly loves to do.”

This summer he has been holding 6 a.m., one-on-one workouts with young NBA players to help improve their skills and said he has a similar impulse when backing entrepreneurs.

“If you would have asked me 10 years ago, I would say I need to win now,” 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.”