Jay Z launches new Platform "Arrive" to fund early-stage Startups, offer branding support to flourish.

Seems everyone is getting their hands on the Next Big Startup.  Now even the Hip-Hop Genius Jay-Z just announced that he will be launching a platform to offer investment of capital as well as assistance with business development, branding and more to help those select Startups flourish, per the official announcement. Shawn "JAY Z" Carter, announced an innovative new platform, ARRIVE, that will partner with a select group of early stage start-ups by providing them with brand services, business development, advisory and capital to drive growth in their organizations.

"ARRIVE was created to leverage our experience and resources in building brands, developing consumer facing businesses, managing artists and representing athletes.  We've opened that diversified, global range of expertise to a new vertical: entrepreneurs and their early stage businesses" said Neil Sirni, Head of New Ventures at Roc Nation.   ARRIVE also anticipates the launch of a traditional venture fund in order to, among other activities, support existing portfolio companies through their subsequent growth stages.

ARRIVE was formed through a collaboration with Primary Venture Partners ("Primary") and GlassBridge Asset Management ("GlassBridge").  Primary will serve as a venture advisor and GlassBridge, a subsidiary of GlassBridge Enterprises Corp. (GLA), will provide institutional and operational support.

Primary Venture Partners co-founder and General Partner, Ben Sun, said, "What Roc Nation has built so far is a true testament to their vision, capabilities and willingness to dig in and take their companies to the next level. We are thrilled to partner with the amazing team at ARRIVE and to leverage these unique resources to build the next generation of powerful brands."

In addition to ARRIVE, Roc Nation intends to formalize its focus on social impact investing later in 2017.  Separately, Roc Nation and its principals continue to strengthen various partnerships to expand its presence in the high growth, early stage community.

Arrive’s unique sales pitch to potential investment targets revolves heavily around its experience in brand building — the company is unique among VC firms in terms of its exposure to the task of managing and building up artists, as well as athletes. It’s hoping to leverage that experience into something a bit different from the status quo in venture capital, according to the release, which could be a very appealing edge indeed to consumer-focused startups looking to accelerate their growth. Roc Nation is working with Primary Venture Partners and GlassBridge Asset Management to form the new firm, with Primary acting as a venture advisor to guide investment, and GlassBridge offering business infrastructure support. Arrive itself doesn’t yet control a fund — the press release suggests it’s in the plan, however, with the aim of building a resource that can be put into both existing portfolio companies and investing in new ones. Jay Z has already invested in a number of startups, both independently and via Roc Nation, including Stance, Uber and more.