Serena Williams, fresh off announcing her upcoming retirement, has invested $5 million in actress Selena Gomez’s company Wondermind.
Bloomberg reports Serena Ventures led an early-stage funding round for Wondermind, a multimedia company started by Selena Gomez, Mandy Teefey, and Daniella Pierson.
The platform, which has a value of $100 million, is working to change the narrative around mental health, including depression, addiction, and even suicide. In addition to her investment, Williams will work alongside Wondermind to promote the brand and will be involved in the brand’s content creation.
In her retirement story in Vogue, the 23-time Grand Slam champion discussed her own mental health issues and the difficulty between choosing to be an athlete, which was her first love, and a mom. The six-time US Open Champion also discussed how her daughter, Olympia,
wants to be a big sister. Now that she has announced her retirement, Williams is focusing on her venture capital company, Serena Ventures.“In my own life, the balance has been slowly shifting toward Serena Ventures,” Williams wrote in VOGUE. “I always say that I’m a sponge: At night I go to bed and I squeeze myself out so that the next day I can take up as much new information as I can.”
Accord
ing to a University of Houston report, suicide rates have been increasing among Black men and women, showing how important it is for Black Americans to take mental health seriously.After receiving $100 million in funding, Serena Ventures has invested in numerous diverse companies, including a wig company, Boss Beauties, Kiira Health, and many more.
Gomez, who suffered an emotional breakdown in 2018 and revealed in 2020 that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, has previously discussed her issues with depression and anxiety. The Only Murders in the Building actress is now helping others deal with their mental health issues.