Legendary rapper is reportedly setting up a venture capital firm

folarin okunola

February 22, 2017 2:18 PM

Both Jay Z and his wife, Beyonce, are known tech investors with noted investments in companies like Uber, Tidal, and WTRMLN.

Jay Z

"Allow me introduce myself, my name is Hov!" Hip-hop heads will definitely love this: Jay-Z, who co-owns Tidal with a bunch of A-list celebrities, is set to launch a venture capital firm.

According to a report by Axios, the legendary rapper will be joined by longtime business partner and Roc Nation (Jay Z's management company) president Jay Brown in the new venture.

The report also says both Jay Z and Brown are looking for a third full-time investment partner, while the firm is expected to focus on seed-stage tech opportunities.

Jay Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is not new to tech investment. Apart from buying Tidal in 2015, Mr Carter also invested in Uber's Series B funding round when the company was still valued at N300 million.

ALSO READ: Sprint has acquired a 33% stake in Jay Z's streaming service

Together with Jay Brown, Jay Z is also partnering with Sherpa Capital, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that supports the most promising, emerging tech-enabled companies.

Jay Z also owns the Brooklyn Nets, an NBA basketball team, and has been consistently ranked in the top five richest rappers list by Forbes for the last five years.

There is no information yet about the size of the fund, what kind of investments the venture capital firm will be looking at and what it will be called.

Axios reports that representatives of Jay Z, Tidal, and Project Panther Ltd (Jay Z's investment company through which he acquired Tidal) have refused to confirm nor deny reports of Jigga's latest business move.

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