Serena Williams Rips 'New York Times' Coverage of Her Venture Fund's Success

Photo Courtesy of Serena Ventures

Her Venture Fund Raised $111 million, but 'NYT' Posted Picture of Williams' Sister With its Reporting on Serena Ventures Milestone

It’s been a big week for tennis icon Serena Williams.

Tuesday, the superstar’s venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, announced it has raised $111 million via its blog. It was a huge coup for the company that says it will “invest in founders who solve everyday problems through unconventional thinking and diverse points of view.”

Reaching the milestone drew high praise from 23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki, a limited partner in Serena Ventures who knows something about raising capital.

"I have been so impressed with Serena Ventures and the extraordinary mentorship and support they provide entrepreneurs,” she said. “Serena has built an exceptional team of diverse experts with branding expertise and strategic advice to help founders as they navigate building their companies.”

By Wednesday, however, Williams wasn’t focused on talking about the firm's portfolio of 60 angel investments or championing the companies it has invested in — including fintech companies Cointracker and Propel, and edtech Masterclass — amongst others. Instead, she was calling out the “New York Times” for its coverage of her landmark moment.

"No matter how far we come, we get reminded that it's not enough," Williams said on Twitter on Wednesday, pointing out the fact that the Old Gray Lady ran a picture of her sister, and fellow tennis legend, Venus Williams with the story. "This is why I raised $111M for @serenaventures. To support the founders who are overlooked by engrained systems woefully unaware of their biases. Because even I am overlooked."

This was our mistake. It was due to an error when selecting photos for the print edition, and it did not appear online. A correction will appear in tomorrow’s paper.

— NYT Business (@nytimesbusiness) March 2, 2022

She ended her tweet by saying, "You can do better, @nytimes."

The Times took credit for the mistake in a response to the Twitter thread.

"It was due to an error when selecting photos for the print edition, and it did not appear online," the NYT Business account tweeted. "A correction will appear in tomorrow's paper."