Jay Z's Roc Nation is launching a venture fund to invest in early-stage startups

pulse

March 6, 2017 2:52 PM

Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by rapper Jay Z, will start investing in young entrepreneurs.

Jay Z.

Jay Z's entertainment company is adding startup investing to its repertoire.

Roc Nation, which Jay Z founded along with Jay Brown in 2008, is launching a "startup platform" called Arrive to invest in early-stage startups and help those companies build their brands.

New York-based venture capital firm Primary Venture Partners will be serving as a venture advisor to the fund and GlassBridge Asset Management will be providing "institutional and operational support."

The news that Jay Z — whose real name is Shawn Carter — and Brown were planning to launch a venture fund was originally reported by Axios' Dan Primack last month.

With Arrive, Roc Nation plans to offer a slew of startup services beyond capital investments, and there are further plans to launch a later-stage fund in the future. Roc Nation also plans to expand its "social impact investing" later this year.

Carter has been investing in tech startups since at least 2012. Both Carter and Brown invested in Uber's Series B, according to Axios, and Carter has invested in three other startups: the high-tech-luggage maker Away, the nail-parlor company Julep, and the private-jet startup JetSmarter.

Carter is also the co-owner of the music-streaming service Tidal.

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