Kim Kardashian is adding strategic investor to her résumé — and she’s on the hunt for hot new start-up businesses to fund.
The TV personality, entrepreneur and social-media influencer has teamed up with Jay Sammons, a 16-year veteran of global investment firm Carlyle, to form private-equity firm SKKY Partners. Kardashian and Sammons will serve as co-founders and co-managing partners, and Kris Jenner (Kardashian’s mother) will serve as a partner at the firm.
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SKKY Partners plans to make both controlling and minority investments in “growth-oriented, market-leading consumer and media companies,” the company announced. Its target sectors include consumer products, digital, ecommerce, consumer media and entertainment, hospitality and luxury.
Kardashian in 2019 founded Skims, an undergarment and apparel business which was valued at $3.2 billion after the company raised $240 million. She has also launched a skin-care line, SKKN BY KIM.
“I’m excited to launch SKKY Partners to invest in the next generation of consumer brands, leveraging my experience founding and building global businesses and partnering with innovative companies to help them grow,” Kardashian said in a statement. “I look forward to working closely with Jay and our team to identify distinctive investment opportunities and build the firm’s portfolio of world-class companies for our investors.”
Kardashian has hundreds of millions of followers on social media, including more than 329 million on Instagram alone. She stars in Hulu reality series “The Kardashians,” along with the other members of the celebrity family, with season 2 set to debut Sept. 22.
Sammons most recently served as Carlyle’s global head of consumer, media and retail. He will lead the day-to-day operations of SKKY Partners, including originating investment opportunities. Jenner, who has overseen the development of her family’s multibillion-dollar collection of businesses, will also partner with SKKY to identify and pursue investment opportunities.
“In partnership with Kim and Kris, I look forward to building SKKY into the leading private-equity firm that backs the next generation of innovative, disruptive consumer businesses and brands,” Sammons said in a statement.
Kirkland & Ellis serves as legal counsel for SKKY Partners.
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