As he retires from the NBA, former professional basketball player Andre Iguodala is set to lead Mosaic, his venture capital (VC) fund.
Iguodala had an established reputation for nearly two decades as one of the NBA’s most versatile players, an All-Star, and an Olympic gold medalist.
He has now announced his retirement from pro basketball to DealBook to focus on his other career as a startup investor.
“It’s been a blessing to play for that long,” he told DealBook.
Mosaic
Mosaic is Iguodala’s $200 million venture capital fund raised with his longtime business partner, Rudy Cline-Thomas.
The fund came about after the duo started buying tech stocks in 2010.
Then, Iguodala began looking into startups during the same year he began playing for the Golden State Warriors in 2013.
“When I initially went out to the Bay Area, it was my intent to have success on and off the court,” Iguodala told DealBook. “I thought about how to get access.”
This led to meetings with VC firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, leading him to secure stakes in Zoom and cybersecurity provider Cloudflare.
Focusing on financial returns and social impact
The firm will focus on seed and early-stage investments in enterprise software, fintech health care, and sports companies.
The pair closed Mosaic’s first fund in May with investors including endowments, institutions, and founders of companies that had already backed.
These included investments from Vessel – a builder of modular multifamily homes, and Athletes First – an NFL talent agency and management firm.
According to andscape, Mosaic centers diversity while focusing on financial returns and social impact.
Iguodala has also invested in over 50 companies through his firm F9 Strategies, including Zoom, Robinhood, HIMS, Jumia Technologies, and All Birds.
