Kobe Bryant starts $100M venture-capital fund

Kobe Bryant isn't wasting any time in transitioning to his second career.

The recently retired Los Angeles Lakers legend embarked on an ambitious new business venture Monday morning, partnering with entrepreneur Jeff Stibel to found a $100-million venture-capital fund.

The Los Angeles-based fund will operate as an investment vehicle for technology, media, and data companies. Bryant and Stibel are fronting the entire $100 million, and aren't, for the time being, seeking outside investors, according to The Wall Street Journal's Dennis K. Berman.

Though the two men are just now making their partnership official, they've been investing in businesses together since 2013, Berman reports. The newly consolidated Bryant Stibel firm already holds stake in several ventures, including: athlete-run media website The Players' Tribune, video game developer Scopely, online legal-services company LegalZoom, and cold-press juice-machine maker Juicero.

Bryant says time has given him a bigger-picture outlook, and with his NBA career now in the rear-view, he's ready to look ahead.

"If you would have asked me 10 years ago, I would say I need to win now," Bryant said. "Age tends to give you perspective. The most important thing I enjoy now is helping others be successful. I enjoy doing that much much more, that's something that lasts forever, and hope they do that for the next generation."