Serena Williams joins Sorare as board advisor

Tennis great Serena Williams will become a key part of NFT fantasy sports platform Sorare’s venture into North American sports.

Sorare, which is worth $4.3bn, has snapped up Williams as a board advisor as the platform looks set to expand its reach across the globe.

The France-based company raised a $680m Series B funding round led by Softbank, making it the fifth-largest funding round in the crypto industry.

The platform secured an additional $50m investment led by venture capital firm Benchmark this past year with Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, also investing in the firm.

In her new position, Williams will “consult with the company on athlete relationships, diversity efforts and expansion into new sports”, according to Sports Business Journal.

Michael Meltzer, Sorare head of business development, said Williams’ global insight would make her a valuable addition to the company.

“She has great insight into the US market and the global market, having played all around [the] world,” he said.

“We think she’ll be a huge strategic addition to us.”

Serena’s digital asset past

The tennis legend got involved with the digital asset industry in the past by leading a $5m backing round in Bitcoin rewards start-up Lolli alongside her husband Alexis Ohanian and prominent YouTubers like MrBeast and Casey Neistat.

Ohanian, a cryptocurrency advocate, gifted Williams a CryptoPunk NFT and wore a pin of the NFT on his tuxedo at the Met Gala fundraiser in 2021.

Following the CryptoPunk, Williams posted an image of a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT on Twitter today with Ohanian replying to the tweet saying he had gifted the NFT to her.