Jay-Z has launched a new venture capital fund, continuing the rapper’s interest in start-ups and technology that has seen him take bets on Uber and music streaming app Tidal.
Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is launching the fund with Walden Venture Capital. The new fund will be called Marcy Venture Partners, named for his childhood home in Marcey Houses in Brooklyn, New York.
The rapper is no stranger to start-ups. In 2011 he became an early investor in Uber when the company was valued at just $300m. Uber has since accelerated in value to more than $70bn.
Another of his biggest recent deals was for Norwegian music streaming service Tidal, which Jay-Z took private for $56m in 2015. The music streaming service has been aimed at rivaling the likes of Spotify, although has failed to grow at the same rate or add subscribers.
Tidal has also been soiled in controversy following an investigation by Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, which has claimed the rapper’s streaming service has inflated user plays on exclusive albums, including those of Carter’s wife Beyoncé and friend Kanye West. Tidal has denied the report, and called its findings “demonstrably false” and part of a “smear campaign”.
Jay-Z has also turned his hand to several other investments, including finance app Robinhood and private-jet company JetSmarter.
