Former NBA All-Star Metta Sandiford-Artest Joins $100M Fund to Advance Sports Technology

The former All-Star and champ is all-in on this new venture.

April 12, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace (37) dribbles the basketball against Golden State Warriors center Damian Jones (15) during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Lakers 109-94. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Former 17-year NBA swingman Metta Sandiford-Artest, formerly known as Ron Artest, The Panda's Friend and Metta World Peace during his playing days, has a surprising new business venture.

Eric Jackson of Sportico reports that Sandiford-Artest is starting a venture capital fund alongside Boost Mobile CEO Stephen Stokols, to be called Tru Skye Ventures.

The duo is seeking to fundraise to the tune of $100 million by the end of the fiscal first quarter of 2025, targeting sports technology, the health and wellness industry, and digital media platforms.

Jackson reveals that Tru Skye has already made an investment, sending an undivulged amount undisclosed sum to performance drink Barcode, founded by Mubarak "Bar" Malik, who served as the former director of performance for a pair of Sandiford-Artest's former teams, the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers.

“Health and wellness are always going to win,” Artest said when the investment was announced last month.

The 6-foot-7 swingman enjoyed an extended NBA run. When he finally hung up his sneakers in 2017, he enrolled in digital analytics classes at UCLA while in pursuit of a master's degree.

“I told people that I didn’t want my face to add value,” Sandiford-Artest said. “I wanted that be to my word and my (mind). That took a long time. There’s just so much that goes into that, especially how people perceive you. You’ll go into a meeting (before) and they’re just waiting to talk basketball.”

Around the time of his retirement, Sandiford-Artest first linked up with Stokols and began making select investments. Eventually, the duo realized that they wanted to make a bigger splash. Hence, Tru Sky Ventures was born.

“We’re taking it from angel investing and individual investing like we’ve done historically into more institutional,” Stokols said of their approach. “We can write bigger checks and follow along with these companies and add more formal value.”

Across stints with the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, Lakers and his hometown Knicks, the St. John's product posted averages of 13.2 points on .414/.339/.715 shooting splits, 4.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.5 blocks across 991 career bouts (840 starts).

A tenacious defender in his prime years with Indiana (when he made his lone All-Star team), Artest was a four-time All-Defensive honoree and the 2003-04 Defensive Player of the Year. He won a championship in 2010 as a starter on the Lakers, led at the time by eventual Hall of Famers Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.

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