Fund is targeting countries that have large sports fanbases with a lot of smartphones.
(Bloomberg) — Venture capital firm Courtside Ventures has raised $100 million from investors for a new fund that’s looking to back sports-related startups.
The investors include Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. and the ownership groups of professional franchises such as Atletico Madrid, the Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers. They’re joined by minority owners across the the NBA, MLB, NHL and English Premier League, along with athlete investors Shaquille O’Neal and Larry Fitzgerald.
“Sports is the overarching umbrella for everything we do,“ said Vasu Kulkarni, a partner at Courtside. “Where I think many of the sports dollars are going to go — it’s probably going to be real-money gaming, because that’s the most interesting place right now as a category.”
Kulkarni said the firm is looking internationally for markets that have large sports fanbases and high smartphone proliferation but which haven’t yet legalized sports betting, with an aim of getting in before regulations change. Courtside investments include businesses in India, Mexico, Brazil and Nigeria.
This is Courtside’s third sports fund since the firm launched in 2016, bringing its total committed capital to more than $200 million. It has maintained its focus on sports and related categories such as media, fitness and technology. It has invested in companies such as the Athletic, a sports-focused news website, sneaker marketplace StockX and the Drone Racing League.
The new fund has already added several companies to its portfolio, including Mojo, which allows customers to bet on an individual athlete’s performance, gamified fintech firm Fello and lottery website Jackpot.com.
Financial terms of the agreements weren’t disclosed.
Kulkarni said when he began considering sports investments more than a decade ago, no one wanted in. Institutional investors shut their doors and he could only deal with team owners, athletes and individual investors. That’s begun to change, he said.
“Every investor I spoke with would run for the hills when they heard the word ‘sports,’” said Kulkarni. “Our job was to expand the definition and show the venture community that there are returnable businesses to be built here.”
(Updates portfolio companies in sixth paragraph.)
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