Hey,
Welcome to Athletico Ventures’ November 21 newsletter. This is our first edition and you should get one every month, that will include content we like, deals that caught our attention and portfolio news.
You are receiving it as we’ve been in touch since I started Athletico Ventures. If you no longer want to receive the newsletter, just unsubscribe further below.
Athletico Ventures’ updates
It’s been a year since we started Athletico Ventures. How are we tracking? Five investments in four companies, with eight athletes. More importantly, more deals in the pipeline and new developments coming soon. Stay tuned.
Just recently, it has been a busy back-to-school period for Athletico Ventures:
Investment in Sorare’s Series B (TechCrunch // Les Echos)
Investment in All Plants’ Series B (TechCrunch)
Participation in the “Bringing to life the future of the fan and athlete experience” panel at Sportbiz Europe (YouTube replay)
Cool content worth watching, reading or listening
Here we will recommend a few sources we like.
Newsletter of the month: Huddle Hup
Hats off to Joe Pompliano for his daily newsletter that breaks down the business and money behind sports. A few good articles on athletes who are proactive investors:
Lebron’s Billion-Dollar Business (here)
Rory McIllroy’s Next Big Investment (here)
Tom Brady's Next Billion-Dollar Brand (here)
Podcast of the month: The Edge by Tag Heuer
Yes, it is a commercial podcast, but they host great guests telling cool stories. I particularly liked:
Other pieces of content we liked over the past weeks
Harvard Business Case on Andreessen Horowitz's Cultural Leadership Fund (HBS)
Index Creator Summit 2021 (7 videos)
Why tennis pro Andy Roddick invested in Cure Hydration (Fortune)
She’s the Investor Guru for Online Creators (NY Times)
Interesting article by Mike Moritz (Sequoia) on what if FC Barcelona had given Messi equity (ft.com // tweeted screenshot here)
Deals that caught our attention
Marcy Venture Partners, co-founded by Jay-Z, just closed its second fund with $325m (TechCrunch)
NFL linebacker Bobby Wagner gets equity stake in $1.2Bn investing platform Public (CNBC)
Kobe’S $400m leads athlete payouts after BodyArmor sale (Sportico)
Lewis Hamilton and Roger Federer participated in NotCo’s $235m Series D, to expand plant-based milk and meat replacements (TechCrunch)
Russell Westbrook, Chainsmokers join group pouring $13.5m into prebiotic soda brand Poppi (TechCrunch)
Kevin Durant investing hot streak continues with Robinhood (Sportico)
Live sports app startup Buzzer banks $20m from investors including Michael Jordan, Naomi Osaka, Patrick Mahomes (Variety)
JAY-Z and Chris Paul invest in vegan cheese company (Afrotech)
Ariana Grande is giving away millions worth of free therapy (Bustle)
Emma Watson backs startup developing novel solution to plastics crisis (Sifted)
Teddy Riner invests in Colizey, a marketplace for sport equipment (Les Echos)
If you want more regular updates on similar deals, just follow me on Twitter.
Portfolio news
Wethenew announced a brand new logo
Wethenew is recruiting like hell!
LaLiga joined Sorare (here)
50 football legends joined Sorare (here)
Bundesliga joined Sorare (here)
Key hires for Sorare, across tech and business (here)
Oura announced its Gen3 ring (video here)
Jennifer Aniston is addicted to her Oura ring (Jimmy Kimmel show)
Congrats All Plants for their Series B! Glad that Kieran Gibbs joined the feast.
Eventually, some housekeeping….
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See you next month!