It’s no secret that Hip-Hop’s first billionaire Jay-Z is always where the money resides, and that goes for Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners as well.
TechCrunch reports, The “Hard Knock Life” rapper’s venture capital firm Marcy Venture Partners — co-founded with Jay Brown (former Roc Nation CEO) and Larry Marcus (Walden VC general partner) — has just closed its second fund with an impressive $325 million.
As AfroTech previously reported early last year, the firm’s first fund was a whopping $85 million and signaled the start of new investments. Now, according to TechCrunch, Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners is “now managing $600 million in assets altogether,” says the group’s co-founder Larry Marcus.
The trio’s mission is to drive the consumer and mass-market to allow culture to transcend across products, services, media and technology. Marcy Venture Partners prides itself in filling its portfolio with companies that are run by minorities and women pushing forward its key values, which include empowerment, inclusivity and accessibility. To date, the venture capital firm has allocated funds to 21 companies including Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty. As AfroTech once told you, the firm led a $70 million funding round for the lingerie company.
Marcy Venture Partners has been busy all year long and shows no signs of slowing down either. In May, Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners dabbled into crypto projects investing in Bitski — an NFT marketplace based in San Francisco. As AfroTech previously reported, the firm also invested in spatial LABS, a tech incubator founded by Ghana-born Iddris Sandu.
And of course, we don’t have to tell you that the venture capital firm is just one of many business ventures for the rapper. In May, he sold Tidal to Jack Dorsey-owned Square for $302 million — an impressive deal for Jay-Z after acquiring the successful music streaming service for $56 million in 2015, AfroTech once reported
For a list of Jay-Z’s investments in Black-owned companies over the years, click here.
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