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On the field, NBA superstar Kevin Durant is known for his ability to score a triple. But off the field, Durant has another career as an investor, and he just put cash in a new fund for new companies in the hope of satisfying the unsatisfied desires of others over the age of 60.
The new fund announced Wednesday is the latest initiative of Alan Patricof, an 85-year-old venture capitalist and one of the sponsors of AOL and Apple.
Patricof has partnered with Abby Miller Levy, former SoulCycle and founding president of Thrive Global, to launch Primetime Partners. The first fund of the new venture capital firm raised $32 million to invest in new start and new companies for up to $1 million each.
Patricof, a Greycroft co-founder and founder of Apax Partners, said he is in a position for his third act. Primetime officially left Stealth on July 29 and will chair the company’s board of directors. Levy, an entrepreneur and wellness advisor, will lead Primetime as associate director.
Durant, Primetime’s prominent investor, established his connection to the fund, one of Patricof’s sons.
“You could say it’s a coincidence,” Patricof said. As soon as the basketball star found out about the background, he “resonated,” Patricof told Business Insider in an interview.
Durant, who is known to have a close relationship with his mother, isn’t the only one thinking about how productive the past generation was.
For more than a decade, Patricof said, he has been the number one caregiver of his wife, Susan, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. He said the delight made him realize that the world was far lacking in products for the elderly and their caregivers.
Meanwhile, Levy, who left his SoulCycle concert last year, said he had spent more than a year researching the market for aging-related products. In the fall, he even taught a course for seniors, “Mini MBA: Introduction to Technology Trade,” at 92nd Street YMCA in New York.
Levy learned of Patricof’s interest in launching a third act in November. The two met in 2016, when they were members of the Board of Directors of Thrive Global.
Primetime Partners were partnered and introduced before this year with 4 investments, two of them before the coronavirus pandemic.
There are more than 74 million people over the age of 60 in the United States. They make up about a quarter of the U.S. population. This other organization controls about 60% of the country’s net worth, but less than 10% of marketing prices are spent on older adult products and their custodians, Levy said.
Patricof and Levy hope to get a trillion-dollar pie from new investment firms that join other people over the age of 60 on a more private level.
One of the most demanding situations facing an ageing population, Levy said, is that there simply aren’t too many brands that communicate definitively and with aspirations about what the final stages of life look like.
“There’s no one for the elderly,” he says.
Bianca Padilla, CEO and co-founder of Carewell, one of the first corporations in the Primetime fund portfolio, will replace that.
She and her co-founder Jonathan Magolnick, Carewell’s chief operating officer, have introduced a marketplace for caregivers looking for home and custom care products in 2017.
Seeing someone who enjoys being diagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease can be overwhelming, but Padilla said the joy of supporting someone he enjoys can be facilitated.
“The family is at the health center,” Padilla said in an interview with Business Insider. As a family-oriented startup, Carewell “builds a logo around simplicity and puts things in terms so it doesn’t seem so strange and so scary,” Padilla added.
Patricof and Levy plan to fund basically new companies that started through socially conscious young founders, but also expect older entrepreneurs. The venture capital team seeks to invest in a number of vertical sectors, adding fitness services, fitness technologies, monetary technologies, care coordination, preventive fitness care and client technologies.
While Levy said she had taken the lead in her new role as a managing wife and adviser to the fund’s portfolio companies, Patricof said she hesitated to assume her role as a spokesperson for others over the age of 60.
“I’m excited to walk into the rostrum and tell the global I’m 85,” he said. “But I have an idea. I accepted it.”
Patricof, who drives a motorcycle regularly, said he never felt like he was more than 40 years old.
He was 72 when he founded Greycroft, who saw corporations in his portfolio make several multibillion-dollar acquisitions through corporations such as PayPal, Salesforce and Disney.
He said he hoped his accomplishments would motivate older Americans to pursue new careers.
Patricof and Levy may have raised the money to help the lives of older people over 60 and motivate older entrepreneurs, but they’re also there for the money. On the sidelines, the company’s investors, including Durant’s, will take a look to see if Patricof and Levy can sink some baskets from midfield.
“Even if we are the largest specialized fund in this field, we will be,” Levy said.