Kevin Durant And Bubba Wallace’s $60 Million Bet to Make Tech Sector More “Racially Diverse”

NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace has joined Kevin Durant and a list of several other elite athletes and celebrities as an investor in the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s special fund to grow Black wealth. In other words, Wallace has decided to invest in the third edition of Andreessen Horowitz’s( also known as a16z) Cultural Leadership Fund, or CLF. Kevin Durant invested in a16z’s inaugural CLF fund launched in 2018.

As it turns out, CLF had been created with the intention of growing black wealth through future ownership of companies in the technological sector. Currently, there is a dearth of African-American representation in the tech sector. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, black people make up only about 7.4% of the American tech sector.

Among other minorities, Asians estimate up to 14% of the tech industry while the Hispanic community represents roughly 7.9%. The rest is dominated by white Americans. CLF aims to bridge the gap in the future and provide better opportunities for people of color in minority communities to build a future in tech.

Bubba Wallace and Kevin Durant as CLF investors

After a16z launched its inaugural CLF fund in 2018, Kevin Durant registered his name in the first group of investors of the program. Other celebrity investors included rappers Sean Combs and Nas, and legendary composer Quincy Jones.

Since then, the fund has reportedly raised over $60 million, according to the company. CLF chiefly attracts African-American athletes, actors, musicians, celebrities and cultural icons. It also invests in various tech startups, which make up a sizable chunk of a16z’s portfolio companies.

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Among CLF’s notable investors, the names of NBA player Blake Griffin, WNBA stars Nneka Ogwumike and Maya Moore, NFL running back Leonard Fournette, singer-songwriter  The Weeknd, and music producer Pharrell Williams, stand out. In addition, popular NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes just joined the list of esteemed celebrities as an investor in the third edition of CLF.

CLF’s goal for the future

“[CLF provides] a front-row seat to the technology shaping our future, but also to have an impact on increasing Black representation and ownership in tech,” investor Bubba Wallace recently told Forbes. According to a16z, it currently manages more than $33 billion in assets.

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As it turns out, the company has reportedly donated $2.5 million of its revenue to nonprofits to increase diversity in tech. A16z’s portfolio holds equity in companies like Roblox, Substack, and the blockchain company Dapper Labs.