Black Wealth Watch: Will Smith Joins WNBA Ownership Group, Issa Rae Moves Into TikTok And Kevin Durant Expands Into Real Estate – Essence

Welcome to Black Wealth Watch, where we round up the biggest stories in Black business and economic news each week — the wins, the setbacks, the deals getting done, and the conversations we should be having about money, power, and who actually gets a seat at the table.

This week, we’ve got an awkward Black girl going back to her digital roots, a Black-led venture fund closing out an oversubscribed round with millions in institutional backing, Kevin Durant buying up land back home in PG County, a Philly legend (or should we say, a fresh prince?) investing in the city’s first-ever WNBA franchise, and a former entertainment exec betting on women as consumers. Is this thing on?

Issa Rae Takes Hoorae to TikTok

The real OGs know before Insecure, and the Hollywood fame that came with it, Issa Rae was posting episodes of The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl on YouTube. She’s always been about going straight to the audience, and this week she doubled down on that. Hoorae Media announced a partnership with TikTok to develop original micro-series for the platform, launching later this month with Screen Time, a short-form thriller about a double-date night that goes very wrong, very fast. More series are already in development across multiple genres. “I want people to feel like Hoorae is a part of their daily routines,” Rae said at TheWrap’s Creators x Hollywood Summit.

Collide Capital Closes $95M Fund II

Five years ago, Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels launched Collide Capital with $1.3 million betting that institutional capital was overlooking some of the strongest founders in the market. This week they closed an oversubscribed $95 million second fund with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and the University of California Endowment on their cap table. The firm now manages over $170 million across fintech, supply chain, and future-of-work startups, with 75 portfolio companies and five exits to its name. For a Black-led emerging fund to close oversubscribed in this market is no small thing. Kudos to those brothas.

Kevin Durant Buys the Former Six Flags Site Back Home

Kevin Durant grew up in Seat Pleasant, in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and this week he bought it, or at least a significant piece of it. His investment firm 35V, co-founded with agent Rich Kleiman, partnered with Atlanta-based real estate firm TPA Group to acquire the former Six Flags America property in Bowie, a 515-acre site that shut down in November 2025. Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy announced the deal and noted she’s expecting a sports component in whatever gets built there, but no formal development plans have been released yet.

Will Smith Invests in Philly’s First WNBA Team

The Fresh Prince is investing in his city’s future. Philadelphia has never had a WNBA team, but all of that changes in 2030, and Will Smith is going to have a small piece of it.

The WNBA and NBA Boards of Governors officially approved the city’s expansion franchise this week alongside new teams in Cleveland and Detroit, with Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (the group that owns the 76ers) set to operate the Philadelphia team. Smith holds a minority stake in the franchise, which came with a $250 million expansion fee. For a city that produced Allen Iverson, Dawn Staley, and Wilt Chamberlain, it took way too long to get here, but it’s finally here now!

Thai Randolph Launches NILE & Co., Acquires BuzzFeed’s As/Is and Goodful

After leading one of the biggest capital raises in Hartbeat’s history, Thai Randolph is finally building for herself. NILE & Co. (Narrative, Influence, Legacy, Enterprise) is a brand and IP platform focused on creators, athletes, and women, who already influence most of the spending in this country. The company is launching with the acquisition of two BuzzFeed brands, As/Is and Goodful, for $500,000, plus a commercial partnership with Cocoa Butter, Pero Like, and A*Pop, bringing the portfolio’s total reach to more than 50 million people. Both As/Is and Goodful relaunch this summer, fully reimagined. “Women are now in the driver’s seat,” Randolph said. “They control the majority of purchasing decisions, sit at the center of the largest wealth transfer in modern history, and are reshaping how capital, culture, and commerce move. Naturally, our first investment is in her.”