Serena Williams is well-known across the world for her world class athleticism and record-breaking tennis career.Indeed, with 23 Grand Slam titles — the most won by any player in the Open Era — it's impossible not to immediately think of her astounding sporting achievements.But the queen of the court has proven her skills and passion are not just defined by tennis as she recently revealed her venture capital firm has raised a staggering $111 million in an inaugural fund.Serena Ventures is a firm that invests in founders and empowers them to "change the world."Williams started up her company nine years ago and has taken on a portfolio of more than 60 angel investments — all backed by the athlete's own money.An angel investor is an individual who uses their own funds to support a start-up company or project, an avenue that could only take Williams so far."As an angel investor, you can only do so much," she told Black Enterprise. "I knew that I wanted to do a fund, but I worked backward, by using my own capital and then creating a track record and getting to know everyone."Williams started her firm when she saw first-hand what kind of impact start-ups can have on everyday lives. Her dedication has helped multiply this effort.Serena Ventures has since expanded its circle and partnered with other equity investment firms including Norwest and CapitalG. This has allowed the company to take investments to another level on a much larger scale."The ability to write bigger checks and the ability to lead seed rounds really enables us to deliver on our mission and to unlock value for our investors and open doors for founders."

Williams stated this is not something that is new to her, and her experience and passion has helped make Serena Ventures the success it is today.

"This is something I’ve been doing for a really, really, really long time and it’s something that I absolutely love and I’m super passionate about."

As a philanthropist, Williams is always looking at how she can create a more equal playing field, and this doesn't just apply to her tennis career.

During a conference, she discovered a statistic that shocked her and made her want to create a difference with Serena Ventures.

"Caryn Seidman-Becker, the founder of CLEAR, was on stage and she said less than two percent of all venture capital (VC) money goes to women," Williams revealed. "I legit thought she misspoke because 98 percent is a huge number.

"When I’m serving, I don’t serve at 98 percent. Like that’s not even possible, that’s near perfect."

I couldn’t wrap my mind around basically almost 100 percent of money is going to the men.

After the conference, Williams was fuelled by the determination to provide support for women. Even in selecting her team, she was passionate about surrounding herself with diverse individuals.

With an all-female team behind her, Williams made it her mission to change the landscape of start-up investment and the opportunities that come with it.

"I wanted to really bring diversity to VC in the way that I could. And the only way to change those numbers was to be the person writing the big checks."

Serena Ventures proudly displays on its website that 76 percent of its portfolio founders come from under-represented backgrounds.

A total of 53 percent are female founders, 47 percent are Black founders, and 12 percent are Latino founders.

William's endeavour is to create a more inclusive future for business owners.

"We want to make sure that we don’t necessarily neatly check a box," she explained. "Just to be clear, you don’t have to be a person of colour or a woman to be in our fund.

"Impact can take many forms. We are focusing not just on the people, but on the market. We really believe that we can make the most by finding companies that solve bigger consumer problems, especially for people who have been ignored by the traditional players in the game."

Despite her demanding business schedule, Williams is still an active tennis player and is chasing a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title.