Alexis Ohanian just bagged the Adweek’s Brand Genius award. Indeed, genius, he is! Because it seems, his acumen to judge the outcome of an investment is exceptional. Look at how he developed Reddit. Along with Aaron Swartz and roommate, Steve Huffman, Ohanian founded it in 2005 only to not find much success initially.

Serena Williams’ husband dissociated from it 15 years later but did enough to increase its stock value by 15% since it was first launched after entering the public markets in March. Year-over-year revenue and adjusted earnings went up by 20% and 23% respectively. A September 2023 update to the Google algorithm gave Reddit increased visibility in search results, nearly tripling its traffic in just over a year. The same vision has also led Ohanian to invest for the future gain of his daughters.

In 2020, Ohanian became a founding investor in the Los Angeles NWSL team Angel City FC alongside his then-two-year-old daughter, Olympia, making her the youngest owner of a professional sports team. But that was not the only one. In the same year, Ohanian made one more investment for Olympia which was not known until he revealed it last month.

On August 7, Ohanian explained on ‘The Twenty Minute VC (20VC),’ a podcast hosted by Harry Stebbings that he had invested $250,000 through a trust in 2020. Riding on that, Olympia and Adira have already become multi-millionaires. Calling the “the smartest thing” he did back then, Ohanian said,

“So the good news is I set that up. It’s not just for Olympia but all of our future kids… And they’re now actually, because of this latest round, they’re literally multi-millionaires because of that one investment four years ago.

“So there’s a part of that that makes me feel really good, which was like, ‘Hey, I saw something early.’”

From solely focusing on making a big venture to leaving a big legacy, the business dad wants to ensure a bright future for his kids. “I’m at the point of my life where I’m in the legacy building mode. And the two people who I care the most about are these little kids,” Ohanian had said. He reshared the clip of the conversation on TikTok on September 17. Notably, not only Olympia, his youngest, Adira, is also in the investment picture. And it looks like Adira just one-upped her elder sister.

Adira became a team owner when she was less than 1 year old. She joined her sister as an investor in Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s tech-infused golf league, TGL, and like Olympia, she too became an investor in Angel City. Consequently, Adira became the youngest owner of two professional sports teams. You might wonder, why Ohanian is so focused on securing the future of his children from such a tender age. Ohanian’s background might have something to do with it.

Ohanian is the grandson of Armenian refugees and the son of a mother who immigrated from Germany. Considering he was able to gauge the struggle of people who are trying to find their footing in uncharted territory, a significant portion of his investments has gone to startups, chiefly tech startups. Acting as an investor and advisor to several small businesses, Ohanian is often seen investing in seed rounds for companies that may or may not make it big over the long term. Altan Insights and Splendid Spoon are two such companies where he invested in May 2022 and February 2022, respectively. His thoughts on promoting startups?

“I get so much joy with being able to build, especially from zero. It does not interest me to own an existing team. I am much more interested in building things from scratch because you get to move a lot faster,” Alexis Ohanian had said in the Citius Mag Podcast last month.

So, that very stand has also led him to bring his magical touch to his next big bet: women’s sports.

Serena Williams and daughters are the driving forces for the investments

Ohanian’s move to invest in Angel City FC was not out of the blue. Reign FC, the Seattle outpost of the National Women’s Soccer League, was sold for a mere $3.5 million in 2020. According to Ohanian’s estimate, Reign’s star athlete, global sensation Megan Rapinoe, alone would have been worth $3 million. That made him realize how under-invested women’s sports were. Therefore the move. Making Olympia an owner also was a thoughtful move.

“As someone who spends hours kicking around a football with my two-year-old daughter, I want her to have a front-row seat to this revolution. I’m personally investing on behalf of my family because creating more opportunities in women’s sports is important to my wife and me, and we want to be a part of making a better future for our daughter,” Alexis Ohanian said at the time. And the investment paid of like anything.

According to Reuters, “Angel City have amassed numerous commercial partners and season-ticket holders and have played in packed stadiums since their debut season in 2022. In 2023, the club generated the highest revenue of any women’s team in the world, and topped the NWSL in attendance, sponsorship and total revenue.” More success followed This year.

In July, Disney chief executive Bob Iger and his wife Willow Bay, a dean at the University of Southern California, became the new majority controlling owner of the team, valuing it at $250 million. But all of these were probably belittled by Ohanian’s ATHLOS NYC (previously called the 776 Invitational), a woman-only track meet set to take place on September 26 at Icahn Stadium. One of a kind it is!

According to reports, it offers the largest prize pool to date. The total purse is at least $500,000, with $60,000 going to first place, $25,000 for second, and $10,000 for third. The amount is more than most events on the professional circuit, men or women. For context, gold medalists at last year’s world championships earned $70,000.

Athlos will feature only six races—a 100-meter hurdle, as well as 100-, 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter sprints—with six athletes each. The event features the likes of Olympians Gabby Thomas and Alexis Holmes. Ohanian’s remarkable sense of prescience comes into play here as he applies his experience in tech startup investment.

“In sports, so many decisions are determined by past precedent, doing things the way they have always been done. In the world of tech startups, if you think that way, you fail. With Athlos, we are questioning every element and building the best version of the product possible,” Ohanian had said. And as Ohanian puts it, the lady in his life and his daughters have a large role to play in this.

“The core phenomenon here probably came from a certain someone I’m married to, right? Serena Williams is the prototype for how you can show women’s sports is and can be and should be on the same level as men’s,” During a conversation on the rise of women’s sports on CNBC, Alexis Ohanian had said. He had also admitted that one main reason for investing in Angel City was watching Olympia “running around, this is 2019 in a Alex Morgan jersey.” We wait to see where else Serena Williams’ husband sets his foot in the coming days to make it a success.