Sports VC Firms - 23 Top Sports Venture Capital Firms 2024 (2024)

Sports have been enjoyed by generations of people all over the world and continue to be one of the most popular forms of entertainment. Along with this popularity comes a large amount of money that is invested into the industry.

Below are the best sports VC firms in the world, along with detailed information that will help any entrepreneur understand how these firms work.

Disclaimer:With so many venture capital firms around the world, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the following VC firms are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.

• Location: King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
• Stage: Seed, Early-Stage Venture
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Challenger, Lucra Sports, Ludis Analytics

SeventySix Capital is a VC firm deploying investment into game-changing startups in sports betting, esports, and sports tech. The firm doesn’t just contribute capital to their portfolio companies, however, they supply support in sales, public relations, business development, marketing, and more areas pivotal to the startup’s growth.

The firm has been investing in sports-related companies for over two decades and has facilitated the building and selling of the leading sports companies in the world.

• Location: Newport Beach, California
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Credenza, Creative Wagering, Slate

Mindspring Capital is led by one of the founding members of the UEFA Champions League and Tom Perkins, a long-time venture capitalist in the Silicon Valley area. Their team has a wealth of experience not just in sports but also in law, technology, and entertainment.

The firm focuses on companies that are engaged in the business of sports at all levels, such as data and analytics, fantasy sports, content and media, as well as new technologies like wearables and drones.

• Location: New York, New York
• Stage: Late-Stage Venture
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Nifty League, Relevant Sports, Primesport

Although RSE Ventures focuses primarily on sports, the firm also invests in media and marketing, food and lifestyle, and technology. One of the firm's major successes involves the ideation and building of the International Champions Cup. The cup now has over 140 million viewers worldwide.

The company has invested resources into other sports companies like drone racing to achieve better marketing campaigns, strategies, and execution. Several of the firm's investments have also seen successful exits.

• Location: Jerusalem, Israel
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Series A
• Notable Portfolio Companies: GreenPark Sports, Rooter, Track160

ADvantage is another sports firm with three main investment areas: fan engagement, connected athletes, and derivative sports. The firm believes the modern sports fan needs new technologies to foster engagement.

This includes everything from how sports fans consume media to the distribution of sports coverage and even innovative technology that leads to better in-stadium experiences. ADvantage also wants to shape the athletes of today using new tech by investing in better ways to track performance or keep athletes connected to each other.

• Location: New York, New York
• Stage: Pre-Seed, Series A
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Tradeblock, Draftea

Courtside Ventures challenges the traditional perspectives of sports, digital media, fitness, and gaming by investing in companies that have a fresh take on the industry. The firm is less focused on the specific stage of a company and believes in supporting any entrepreneurs that are solving real pain points in the sports industry.

The founding partners all have a long history in the sports industry and have spent time building their own companies and working with some of the biggest names in sports. This experience helps them better assess and invest in new companies.

• Location: White Plains, New York
• Stage: Private Equity
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Deltatre, TGI Sport, Two Circles

Founded in 2015, Bruin Capital is a private equity firm dedicated to working with capital partners and management teams to scale sports and entertainment startups. The firm takes a different approach than many investors, serving as a value-adding partner to their portfolio companies.

The firm dedicates an extensive amount of resources, skills, and industry expertise in addition to flexible, long-term capital to develop a growth-oriented partnership with investment companies and their teams.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Stage: Seed, Early Stage, Late Stage, Private Equity
• Notable Portfolio Companies: BrightHire, Grove, Boom Fantasy

Rabil Ventures may invest in several different markets, such as real estate, tech, and financial services but the firm dedicates the largest percentage of its investment capital toward sports startups. The firm was started by brothers Paul and Michael Rabil with the vision of helping entrepreneurs see their businesses through from start to finish.

The team at Rabil Ventures is experienced in all stages of business, providing a competitive advantage to the firm and their portfolio companies. They're also willing to invest time and resources into companies that may not yet be ready for venture capital.

• Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin
• Stage: Seed, Early Stage Companies
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Overtime, SeedLinked, Leaf

Located in the heart of the midwest, TitletownTech was formed by a partnership between the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft. The firm invests in early-stage, scalable startups across a variety of industries from sports and media to manufacturing and construction.

TitletownTech’s portfolio companies benefit from access to industry advisors and in-residence partnerships in addition to capital. Plus, with the firm’s focus on disruptive founders, entrepreneurs that receive investment from TitletownTech gain valuable opportunities for professional growth and skill development.

• Location: Silicon Valley (Palo Alto, California)
• Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Overtime, GreenPark Sports, Buzzer

Sapphire Sport combines tech and culture to provide a unique investment experience for founders that are making waves in the sports tech industry. Founded by former professional athletes, Sapphire Sport leverages industry expertise as well as their network of experts and advisors to best support portfolio companies in their growth efforts.

The firm’s investment strategy is largely focused on fitness and wellness startups. However, they also deploy capital into media and entertainment, web3, metaverse, and gaming startups.

• Location: Los Angeles, California
• Stage: Seed, Early Stage, Late Stage, Private Equity
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Religion of Sports, Fanaply, Street FC

Elysian Park Ventures is the investment arm of the Los Angeles Dodgers Ownership Group. The firm focuses investment on the sports industry as well as markets that intersect with it such as health, culture, tech, and commerce.

One of the primary advantages the firm boasts is their robust global network across the professional sports and tech landscapes. This coupled with strategic resources, capital, and mentorship provide Elysian’s portfolio companies with valuable support to grow their startups.

• Location: Sydney, Australia
• Stage: Seed, Early Stage, Series A
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Fusion Sport, Bare

No other investment firm is as intimately familiar with the sports industry as Athletic Ventures. The firm is based in Australia, and is composed of current and former elite athletes.

The team at Athletic Ventures has a wealth of experience and knowledge in the sports industry, which they use to invest in companies that are changing the landscape of sports. The firm looks to invest in the high-growth technology and consumer sectors.

• Location: Lisbon, Portugal
• Stage: Pre-Seed, Series A, Growth, Private Equity
• Notable Portfolio Companies: VersusGame, Spalk, Batch

APEX is a sports-related investment firm that looks for innovative and disruptive concepts in sports, media, and entertainment. Additionally, the firm favors companies that integrate social and environmental impact for communities around the world.

APEX also partners with athletes, celebrities, and influencers to help promote and invest in companies. Some notable names include NBA star Carmelo Anthony, Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps, and NFL defensive end J.J. Watt.

• Location: United Kingdom (London)
• Stage: Late-Stage Venture, Private Equity, Seed
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Sports Data Labs, Whistle, Eleven Sports

Aser Ventures is a well-known investor in the sports tech industry. The firm has a long history of investing in some of the most successful sports companies. The platform has over $300 million in strategic assets since 2015 and over $1.5 billion in estimated enterprise value.

Using years of management expertise, Aser is able to help companies achieve their potential and create shareholder value. It has a global reach with a large network to help assist its investments.

• Location: Paris, France
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Private Equity
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Standing Ovation, SportEasy, Kinomap

Although Seventure Partners has investments that range in sectors from life sciences to digital technologies, they hold powerful positions in several of the leading sports startups. The firm is one of the European leaders in venture capital.

To align with Seventure's values, companies must have integrity, provide full transparency, and act with professionalism. The company helps to provide a valuable bridge between business angels and classic financial institutions.

• Location: New York, New York
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
• Notable Portfolio Companies: OneFootball

Liberty City is a venture capital firm, but they are also an incubator and an accelerator. The firm focuses on investments in digital media, marketing technology, and ecommerce. So far, the company has over $1.7 billion of assets under management.

The incubator program helps entrepreneurs with idea validation, customer acquisition, product development, and fundraising. The firm has already incubated two unicorns in the blockchain sector and is looking to do the same in the sports industry.

• Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Stage: Series A and Higher
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Aurarii, Inclusr, Trimix

What makes Venturerock different from other VC firms is they are a digital venture capital platform and venture studio. They work with a variety of sectors including AI, IoT, blockchain, and other novel technology infrastructures. By combining technology and the firm's extensive expertise, they have been able to develop a new investment protocol.

This new protocol helps entrepreneurs focus on growing and execution rather than worrying about fundraising. By digitizing the investment supply chain, they are able to provide KPI reporting and legal agreements to unlock free-flow capital.

• Location: Boston, Massachusetts
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Just Women’s Sports, Tappp, Picklebet

Drive by DraftKings is a venture capital firm focused on sports tech and entertainment. The firm believes that funding innovative sports tech will push the new frontier of new markets and categories.

The team of Drive is unique in that it is primarily female-led. You'll find some of the most well-known athletes in the world partnered with Drive including Larry Fitzgerald and James Blake.

• Location: Highland Park, Illinois
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Stadium Live Studios, SIQ Basketball, Full Swing

KB Partners focuses on companies at the intersection of sports and technology. All the founders in the firm have gone through the trials and tribulations of growing their own companies and use that experience to help entrepreneurs scale quickly.

Operating out of the Chicago suburbs, KB Partners operates by its core values of honesty, integrity, professionalism, productive partnerships, and a winning mentality. The firm dedicates its capital to early-stage startups with talented entrepreneurs at the helm and backed by experienced, hardworking management.

• Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
• Stage: Late-Stage Venture, Post-Ipo, Private Equity
• Notable Portfolio Companies: WSC Sports

The two growth funds that ION Crossover Partners manage help them invest in businesses with untapped growth potential. Entrepreneurs gain access to ION's strategic toolkit which includes an IPO preparation program and global business development resources.

ION operates off eight different values that drive all investment decisions: integrity, accountability, mutual respect, professionalism, non-hierarchical, no-nonsense, results-oriented, and work-life balance. These traits must be present within any startup seeking investment opportunities from the firm.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
• Notable Portfolio Companies: VY Esports, DraftKings, Dogo Madness

Raine Group has a large portfolio of companies that span technology, media, and telecom. Only sports companies that are focused in these areas will be accepted into Raine's highly respected portfolio.

Being under the financial support of the Raine Group will come with advisory services focused on mergers and acquisitions, private capital raising, divestitures, and overall strategic advice. The company has about $3.4 billion of assets under management.

• Location: London, United Kingdom
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Matchpint, Wattbike

Located in the UK and laser-focused on investing in the country, 24Haymarket invests in high-growth native companies. It uses its own Investor Network to determine which high-growth companies to invest in.

The firm does require a board seat in each company it invests in and requests that all startups have already shown commercial traction. 24Haymarket does, however, combine the board seat with a post-investment model.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed, Series A
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Tonal, Noom, Hued

Serena Ventures was founded by tennis legend Serena Williams. The firm is focused on companies that are led by underrepresented founders, women founders, black founders, and latino founders.

Serena Ventures deploys capital in companies that are leading the charge in disruptive technology across various industries, including health, wellness, and education. General partner to Serena is Alison Rapaport Stillman, who oversees the portfolio management and new investment.

• Location: London, United Kingdom
• Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
• Notable Portfolio Companies: Goals, Homa Games

Founded in 1996, Northzone takes an uncommon approach to investing. The firm is’t driven by the qualities that most VC firms believe are important. Instead, it relies on its principles and instinct to lead its investing decisions.

The firm truly invests in companies of all stages, including seed to growth. Northzone already has experience growing businesses and taking them public. The company is straightforward with its entrepreneurs and has a refreshing take on investing compared with other firms.

• Angel Investor Groups
• Crowdfunding Sites
• Startup Accelerators
• Startup Grants
• Venture Capital Books
• Books on Startup Funding