Serena nets another African startup

Serena Ventures, the venture capital firm founded in 2014 by tennis star Serena Williams, has just invested in another Nigerian startup – growing her portfolio of African tech firms.

The VC firm was part of a $3.3m seed round for Stears, a data analysis and information startup that positions itself as Africa’s answer to Bloomberg News.

This latest investment comes just a few weeks after Serena Ventures led a funding round for Ugandan fintech Numida. It has also invested in crypto firm Nestcoin and job placement company Andela, one of Africa’s unicorns

In an interview with Inc., Williams said she intended to put more money into African companies, saying: “I’m a big believer in having Black people invest in Africa. … That’s really important to me.”

Serena Ventures, one of the few women-owned VC firms in the world, has said it seeks to invest in more companies led by women, which receive 2.3% in VC funding.