For basketball star
Kevin Durant, immersion in the tech world is one of the benefits of moving to San Francisco from Oklahoma.
Durant, an NBA player for the Golden State Warriors, has a net worth of
$60 million. His career points-per-game average is the best among active players and fourth all-time.
He has endorsements with Nike, Beats, American Family Insurance, BBVA, Sparkling Ice, Panini and NBA 2K, according to Forbes.
Durant also makes tech investments in the Silicon Valley area — about 30 to date. These include the Player’s Tribune, Acorns, Postmates and JetSmarter.
It’s not a VC firm — it’s more like a private equity fund, they said.
Durant and his partner said they don’t have a policy to invest in African Americans and female founders.
“A lot of times some of the African American-run tech companies and the concepts they have, have gravitated to Kevin’s understanding of the culture and the upbringing,” Kleiman said. “We invested in a company called
Propel which is an online food stamp technology. Kevin could really understand why that was so important.
We don’t have a policy but two of the most impressive people we’ve met in Silicon Valley have been women. It’s unfortunate that some of the startups we’ve been introduced to haven’t been more female-run.”
Propel builds software for low-income Americans who are often overlooked by traditional tech innovation. Its focus is now on food stamps, a $70 billion program that reaches 45 million Americans. Propel has raised $4 million “to make the social safety net more tech savvy and user friendly.”
