“Our Bryant Stibel fund grew from $100 million to $2 billion in 6 years”: Kobe Bryant and business partner, Jeff Stibel, once revealed the immense success of their venture capital fund

Kobe Bryant and his business partner, Jeff Stibel, revealed on CNBC that they had grown their venture capital fund from $100M to $2B. 

What made Kobe Bryant unique was his desire to be the best in all facets of life, not just NBA hardwood. The Los Angeles Lakers made one of the biggest decisions in franchise history by trading for him on Draft Night in 1996 as he bestowed upon them 5 championships over the course of two decades and cemented himself as a figure larger than life itself. 

However, taking his talents off the court and Kobe Bryant was a brilliant man when it came to everything from production to story-telling and to of course, investments. He started the Bryant Stibel venture capital fund back in 2013 with entrepreneur and business partner, Jeff Stibel, and there was no looking back.

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Both Kobe and Jeff invested in everything from LegalZoom to BodyArmor. The latter of those two was a simple $6 million investment that returned $200 million after the company got acquired by Coca-Cola as direct competition to Pepsi’s Gatorade. 

Kobe Bryant and Jeff Stibel grew their fund to billions of dollars. 

While on CNBC, both Kobe Bryant and Jeff Stibel broke down several aspects of their partnership in Bryant Stibel. They started off with quite the statement as they claimed their fund had grown from a ‘measly’ $100 million to a whopping $2 billion. 

“We had about 18 active, had about 10 exits so it’s been incredibly successful and we’ve watched the fund grow from about 100 million dollars to now over $2 billion, so it’s exciting,” said Stibel.

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An exit is when a venture capitalist or any owner of a business decided to leave an investment and receive the proportional amount of money that they invested as stake into that company, whether it be a profit or a loss. 

Stibel claiming that him and Kobe Bryant had over 10 exits with their fund also increasing in value only means that they netted massive profits for both themselves and the companies they invested in. it should also be noted that the 6-year period mentioned is due to their fund beginning in 2013 and this interview airing in 2019.