Jay-Z is Launching a Venture Capital Fund

Jay-Z attends 2017 Roc Nation Pre-Grammy Brunch (Getty Images)

Rapper and music mogul, Jay-z, has decided to enter the world of venture capital. Axios‘ Dan Primack reported that he is planning on launching a venture capital fund along with Roc Nation President Jay Brown. Their looking for a third investment partner and have chosen to team up with Sherpa Captial, whose website says they support “the most promising emerging technology-enabled companies, helping them become global brands beloved by their customers.”

Jay-Z has been investing in tech startups since 2012. He and Jay Brown have invested in a couple of startups including Uber’s Series B, high-tech-luggage maker Away, nail-parlor company Julep, and private-jet startup JetSmarter. Jay-Z is also the co-owner of the music streaming service Tidal. Even though some of these businesses aren’t doing so good, Tidal was able to sell one-third of its stake to Sprint last month. The fund will also serve to help build some of their previous joint investments.

(L-R) Roc Nation’s Jay Brown, Tyran ‘Tata’ Smith and rapper/producer Jay-Z attend the Roc Nation Pre-GRAMMY Brunch. (Getty)

Years ago, rapper Nas launched his own venture capital firm called Queensbridge Venture Partners. The group has invested over $500k in startups including Lyft, Dropbox, and Tradesy. They have over 40 companies in their portfolio and have invested in more than 100 companies altogether.

Jay-Z and Jay’s fund will focus on seed-stage companies, they haven’t confirmed the fund’s size yet and neither of the gentlemen have publicly commented about the fund.

Martel Sharpe is a Heavy Contributor living in Atlanta, GA. He is loves reading, writing, brunch. Reach out to Martel through email, martel.sharpe@heavy.com or follow him on Instagram and Twitter @markopolowe.
February 21, 2017 7:05 pm