Insights about athlete-investors #11
Actors are good investors too, Ryan Reynolds may be the best of them!
Hi, it’s Arthur from Athletico Ventures. We help elite athletes invest in startups - mainly Consumer, Impact and Entertainment - alongside top tier investors. Here is your bi-monthly shot of insights about athlete investors. Lots to digest this time as we are one month late…
Athletico Ventures’ updates
Athletico Ventures was featured by Les Echos in an article on “French football players investing in tech startups” (Les Echos)
Deals that caught our attention
Waterdrop welcomed Novak Djokovic as investor and brand ambassador (Waterdrop)
Lionel Messi’s tech investment firm Play Time is betting big on this mobile gaming startup (Fast Company)
Raheem Sterling, joins Oja family as angel investor and ambassador (EU Startups)
Raphaël Varane invests in Kobi and Kinvent, respectively sportstech and healthtech startups (Les Echos)
Naomi Osaka and Apolo Ohno invest in ramen brand Immi Eats (Profluence Sports)
Bezel, a watch marketplace, announces its $8m seed round with participation from Kevin Hart, John Legend, DJ Steve Aoki and Kyle Kuzma (Bezel)
Digital creator business Goldenset Collective launched yesterday with $10m, with participation from Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures (Sports Business Journal)
secjur scores €5.5m for its AI-based compliance automation platform, with participation from Nico Rosberg and Mario Götze (EU Startups)
Slew of NBA players invest in sports app Fandex (Profluence Sports)
Rudy Gobert invests in a Y Combinator startup, Trendex (La Source)
…. and more at the bottom of this email….
Companies founded by athletes & celebrities
Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore raise $20m for Jump, with plan to take on Ticketmaster (Profluence Sports)
Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant joins the long list of investors in Tiger Woods’ TMRW Sports (Sportico)
Ex-NFL player retires at 28 to trade Pokémon cards and makes $5m in first 7 months (Void Media)
Athletes & celebrities investing in sports teams
Nadal becomes e-boat racing team owner and invest in league (Front Office Sports)
NFL superstar Mahomes joins ownership group of NWSL's Kansas City Current (CBC)
Odell Beckham Jr joins Mexico’S Club Necaxa and Washington D.C. pickleball team as investor (Sportico)
Tom Brady acquires minority stake in Las Vegas Aces (Front Office Sports)
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Filip Forsberg join Nashville SC ownership group (Profluence Sports)
Dude Perfect buying into pickleball team at $5m valuation (Sportico)
Osaka, Mahomes among new Pickleball investors (Front Office Sports)
Michael Phelps joins Kevin Durant, Heidi Klum, and Eva Longoria as pickleball investors (Essentially Sports)
LA Rams QB Matthew Stafford joins Angel City investment team (ESPN)
A-Rod, Marc Lore exercise first option to buy the rest of Timberwolves (Sportico)
Cool content worth watching, reading or listening
Podcast: The Super Angel Podcast
The go-to podcast for angels backing the next generation of European unicorn founders. Two of my favourite episodes:
Roxanne Varza (Station F) on investing internationally and being a baby LP in venture funds
Eduardo Ronzano (Secret Fund)
Newsletter: Profluence Sports, by Andrew Petcash
Profluence Sports is a newsletter & podcast that breaks down the business of athletes, sports, and NIL. A couple of interesting reads:
Other pieces of content we liked over the past weeks
Investing-related
Why we should be focusing on the Creator Economy (Balderton)
The creator economy landscape (Antler)
Investing in the shift in consumer spend and interest (The Sports Loft)
Are megafunds killing venture capital? (Sifted)
Generative AI: the next consumer platform (a16z)
Who owns the generative AI platform? (a16z)
Meet Monarch Collective, a $100m focused on investing in women’s sports (LA Times)
Celebrity & sports-related
Ryan Reynolds explains sale of Mint Mobile to T-Mobile (CNBC)
Ryan Reynolds, marketing genius? (The Hustle)
Shaq, Dan Gilbert, David Blitzer, and Larry Fitzgerald Jr. are among the investors in Courtside Ventures' $100m raise (Boardroom)
Why are athletes investing? (VC Stack)
Kevin Durant's 7 best investments (Andrew Petcash)
The rise of the athlete tech investor (Comcast)
Athletes in venture, and why so few are females (Profluence Sports)
While many NBA Players go broke in retirement, David Robinson launched two multi-billion private equity funds (Celebrity Net Worth)
NBA legend Carmelo Anthony and WWE execs launch $750m private equity fund for sports (Bleacher Report)
Venus Williams joins private equity firm Topspin Consumer Partners (Reuters)
The crazy beginning of StockX and how former NFL player, Joe Haden, turned $250k into $14m (Void Media)
Atlanta Hawks launch Hawks Ventures with $50m fund to support minority-led startups (NBA)
Profluence’s athlete portal, an inside look at the business - investments and endorsements - of athletes (Profluence Sports)
The Post: building a life after sport (Boardroom)
Chiney Ogwumike (NWBA / ESPN analyst) shares insights on her investments including Athletic Green and Overtime (Front Office Sports)
Portfolio news
Wethenew
Wethenew signed a collab with Schott N.Y.C, inspired from the 90s (Fashion Network)
Wethenew turned 5 (Wethenew)
Wethenew opened a new corner at Galeries Lafayette (Wethenew)
Sorare
Sorare’s CEO, Nicola Julia, had a chat with NBA with Commissioner Adam Silver & NBPA with Executive President Tamika Tremaglio (Sorare)
Premier League backs Sorare’s NFT fantasy football game (The Financal Times)
Oura
Oura study shows covid-19 can impact your biometrics for weeks after infection (The Verge)
All Plants
Allplants surpass 6m meals sold after launching in Ocado and Planet Organic (Grocery Gazette)
Moka.care
Moka.care’s co-CEO Pierre-Etienne Bidon was interviewed on the podcast “Dans la Tête d’un CEO” (Apple podcast)
Moka.care’s podcast “Les secrets du mental” was featured by Apple as one of its “Coup de coeur” (Apple podcast)
Cowboy
Cowboy brings AdaptivePower to its ebikes and shows why community building is critical to D2C sales (tech.eu)
Cowboy bikes are now available in Selfridges, London’s famed department store (Instagram)
A snapshot at Cowboy’s story (Cowboy)
More investments from athletes and celebrities
National champion and 8x Pro Bowler Travis Kelce announces business venture with Casa Azul Tequila Soda (PR Newswire)
Aaron Rodgers-backed firm hits it big in dog food investments (Sportico)
Sebastian Vettel leads $1.2m cash injection into sustainable sports drink brand (The Sport Rush)
GoJoe raises £1.2m seed round from Superbet and others, including ex-Manchester United captain Michael Carrick (Tech Funding News)
Huupe, a ‘smart’ basketball hoop startup, raises its game with $11m, with participation from NBA player Thaddeus Young’s venture fund (TechCrunch)
Mario Götze and The Chainsmokers participate in Slay’s €2.5m pre-seed round (TechCrunch)
Joe Burrow, Blake Griffin, around 20 more athletes buy Iowa farm for roughly $5m (Bleacher Report)
Champions Round, a fantasy league startup, announces a $7m Series A, with participation from NBA Baron Davis, NFL Melvin Gordon and Tyrann Mathieu (Profluence Sports)
Several athletes invest in Slate Milk’s $10.5m series A (Profluence Sports)
Fitness app lands £1.9m, incl. backing from British Olympic marathon runner (Tech Funding News)
Firefly Recovery, an athletic recovery device, raised $1m led by professional athletes like NFL Kerri Walsh Jennings and Shaq Thompson (Profluence)
Entocycle, an insect breeding technology, raises a $5m Series A led by Climentum Capital, with participation from Antoine Dupont and Nikola Karabatic (TechCrunch)
NFL Derek Carr and Alex Smith lead investment round with active recovery leader Oofos (PR Newswire)
Until next time!