🌐 Kyrie the Investor and Chief Community Officer
Plus Giannis, Allyson Felix and Andre De Grasse's latest moves.
The athlete's economy is on the rise. Join us to learn about the athletes, startups and investors shaping what’s next.
🌐 Kyrie the Investor & Chief Community Officer
In December 2023 Kyrie Irving inked an innovative partnership with Kicks Crew, a global e-commerce marketplace for sneakers and apparel.
Under the hood, the details of the partnership signify how athlete and startup collaboration continues to evolve.
As Kyrie told Boardroom in the partnership announcement — “it’s not just about endorsing a product anymore — it’s about being actively involved in how that product reaches consumers.”
That's why he is joining Kicks Crew as an investor and Chief Community Officer where he'll be focused on bringing together the sneaker community around the KC brand.
🥇The Play
As raising from athlete-investors becomes more normalized, startups will continue to raise the bar on what true product influence means.
Whether it's adding on an advisor position or crafting an executive-in-residence role — identifying ways to facilitate ongoing insight and collaboration with athlete-partners will be top of mind.
🌐 The Players Fund Enters Women's Sports
In August of 2023, The Players Fund announced the launch of the UK's first athlete-led investment firm with an inaugural $40M fund.
With its debut, The Players Fund highlighted a continued shift towards the collective model of athlete-investing — combining the resources, networks and experiences of a community of athletes to drive value for a firm & its portfolio companies.
4 months later, The Players Fund announced its entrance into the world of women's sports by bringing on a new group of partners (via Sports Pro Media):
Allyson Felix
Nikita Parris
Jessica Ennis-Hill
Danielle Carter
With the goal of creating the leading athlete-investor network, this move helps The Players Fund get in at the early-stages of women's sports investor growth.
🥇 The Play
With tailwinds of NIL, creator economy, and growing investment into women's sports — the earnings of women athletes continues to rise. This will lead to an increased amount of women athlete investors, entering the market through collectives and building standalone firms.
🌐 Andre De Grasse Launches VC Firm
Six-time Olympic medalist Andre De Grasse, OLY has launched his VC firm — ADG Ignite Ventures.
The firm will leverage the platform and network Andre has built as an athlete to invest and support companies across:
Health & Wellness
Sports Tech
Mental Health & E-Learning
Lifestyle
Andre has also brought together an all-star team of advisors with experience across sports management, entrepreneurship and the investing worlds.
A few of ADG Ignite Ventures Investments:
Disco — a community management platform for founders and operators.
Headversity — a digital mental health platform for the workforce.
One of Andre's first moves in the startup space was joining Plantiga, a wearable shoe technology company, as an investor and brand partner (via SBJ).
🥇The Play
Andre is building upon a commonly traveled path for athletes into VC: by investing in what they know, building an investment thesis + portfolio of angel investments around it, and eventually formalizing their efforts into a firm.
🌐 The Start of Giannis' Content Empire
Giannis has announced the launch of Improbable Media, a production and brand consulting company that will incubate and accelerate content for talent and brands.
Infusing his personal journey into the companies strategy — Giannis' new venture will focus on content that “champions the underdog and inspires people to make the improbable, probable int heir lives” (via Improbable Media).
Their upcoming project, Giannis: The Marvelous Journey, will profile the rise of the NBA Champion from the Athens to becoming a global superstar.
Improbable Media has received funding from Verance Capital and GPS Investment Partners, two leading investors in the media space.
🥇 The Play
Giannis has partnered with Jay Williams (media personality + entrepreneur) and Jonathan Stern (media and entertainment executive) to bring Improbable Media to market. Whether it's a media company, agency or investment firm — athletes are identifying the right operators from sports and beyond to expand their business portfolios.
🫂 That’s a Wrap
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I’m a fan of any Giannis content 😂