Durant, WNBA Stars Continue Streak of Women’s Sports Investments

Kevin Durant and a growing number of well-known athletes see potential in women’s sports — and they’re investing to make it known. 

The former NBA MVP and Rich Kleiman’s Thirty Five Ventures is among a group of investors in a star-studded $3.5 million seed funding round for media platform Just Women’s Sports.

Other investors include Drive by DraftKings, OVO Fund, and Supernode Global, as well as WNBA athletes Arike Ogunbowale and Elene Delle Donne, PWHPA player Hilary Knight, and USWNT star Kelley O’Hara. The round was led by Will Ventures.

Durant is also on the advisory board for Athletes Unlimited, which is set to launch women’s professional indoor volleyball and softball leagues later this year.

Like Durant, Alex Ovechkin, Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams are also investing in women’s sports. Each has recently bought into National Women’s Soccer League teams, adding to several recent business moves by and for women across sports.

• In March, Alex Morgan, Sue Bird, Simone Manuel and Chloe Kim launched TOGETHXR, a sports and lifestyle company for women.
• After growing its newsletter revenue by more than 1,000% in the past year, the GIST raised $1 million in an April seed round.
• Earlier this month, the WNBA, along with ESPN, announced a three-year partnership with Google that’s focused on bringing more viewers to women’s sports.

“Just Women’s Sports is creating a much-needed platform centered around game and player highlights and analysis that shows fans exactly how good these players are and why they’re worth watching,” said Durant.