June 27, 2025
Serena Williams will proceed amplifying women-led startups in her new position at Reckitt.
Serena Williams has taken on a brand new position as a mentor, serving to scale startups devoted to hygiene, maternal care, and well being fairness.
Constructing on her monitor document of investing in underrepresented women-led startups, the 23-time Grand Slam champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist was not too long ago named the first-ever entrepreneur-in-residence at Reckitt, the British shopper well being firm behind manufacturers like Lysol, Durex, and Enfamil. In her new position, Williams will mentor and assist develop startups in hygiene, maternal care, and well being fairness, fields that replicate her dedication to supporting underfunded sectors with excessive demand.
“Daring, progressive concepts can clear up a number of the world’s most urgent healthcare challenges if given the precise help to thrive,” Williams informed Fortune at Cannes Lions. “This consists of mentorship, funding, and powerful perception.”
Girls-led startups obtain lower than 3% of world enterprise funding, regardless of research exhibiting that they typically outperform male-led firms. This disparity drives Serena Ventures’ mission to again underfunded startups based by ladies and other people of coloration, a mission she defined in a TikTok publish final yr.
“Someplace alongside the road, I discovered that lower than two % of VC cash went to ladies,” Williams mentioned on TikTok.
“Once I first heard that, I truly thought that was a misquote – I believed that may’t be actual. Once I first began investing, I discovered that that was true, and that was truly one thing that was taking place, and so I knew proper then and there that someday I needed to lift a fund or elevate cash and put money into ladies.”
Williams’ appointment at Reckitt aligns with the launch of Reckitt Catalyst, a £10 million initiative designed to help as much as 200 underrepresented founders by 2030. This system goals to enhance entry to well being and hygiene for 5 million folks by means of scalable, community-driven options throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
“We realized we had the identical thesis, [which is] that once you put money into ladies, once you put money into ignored markets, the returns are there,” she mentioned. “It’s not charity. It’s good enterprise.”
The adorned tennis champion is conscious of the gaps many women-led firms fill, particularly in terms of providing services with ladies and kids in thoughts. Regardless of the rising want, these firms are sometimes ignored and underfunded, however Williams is trying to change that.
“Hygiene is routinely ignored in enterprise,” she mentioned. “It’s not flashy. However it’s foundational, particularly for ladies, moms, and kids. These are important markets that drive actual influence and actual returns.”
In her new position, Williams will present mentorship and leverage her community to help Catalyst entrepreneurs, providing strategic steerage and connections to assist them develop their influence and credibility.
“On the finish of the day, the enterprise is about relationships,” she mentioned. “A 30-minute dialog can unlock new partnerships or funding alternatives. I need to provide that entry to founders who aren’t a part of the same old energy circles.”
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