After announcing the creation of their $100 million venture capital fund early Monday morning, Los Angeles Lakers legend, Kobe Bryant, and serial entrepreneur, Jeff Stibel, continued with their investment news.
On Monday afternoon, the duo finalized an undisclosed amount in VIPKID, the leading online education platform for children in China to learn English via North American teachers; it’s Bryant and Stibel’s first investment from the ‘Bryant Stibel’ fund around education.
VIPKID — which currently boasts over 500,000 users — is geared towards giving Chinese children ages five to 12 years old a virtual North American educational experience.
A great honor to have @kobebryant @stibel investing in VIPKID, their 1st ever edu investment, from their $100M fund! pic.twitter.com/o8zKNCqELv
— Teach VIPKID (@TheVIPKIDLife) August 23, 2016
“(VIPKID) is changing things,” Bryant said to The Los Angeles Times about the Beijing-headquartered company. “It’s a no-brainer for me. We have to look for companies adding value to society, helping kids learn and grow whether through education, nutrition.”
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Added Cindy Mi, Founder and CEO of VIPKID, in a press release, “We value Kobe’s influence in the U.S. and around the world. With this investment, we can strengthen the bridging of resources between the U.S. and China and further improve VIPKID’s strategic plans for international development.”
Throughout his 20-year NBA career and even now, Bryant’s ties to China run deep, arguably being one of the most well-known basketball superstars in China; it may even be a well-supported fact.
Earlier this March, ESPN’s Director of Sports Analytics, Ben Alamar, crafted a formula which answered the question, Who’s the most famous athlete in the world? The end result after combining salary and endorsements with Google search popularity and social media following was the ESPN World Fame 100 rankings, with Bryant coming in as the world’s most popular athlete in China (No. 11 overall).
Since 2006, the 38-year-old Bryant has traveled overseas for a promotional tour each year. In addition, The Black Mamba had the best-selling sports jersey in China from 2007-10 and in 2012. Needless to say, given his influence in China and familiarity among fans and consumers, Bryant further entrenching himself into the Chinese business economy shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.