🌐 Q1 Market Map
Key Trends in the Athlete's Economy
Modern-day athletes are reshaping the tech world.
And founders are taking note — finding opportunities to build products for, and in collaboration with them.
So far in 2024 we've covered 20+ startups that are:
Powering the Next Wave of Athlete Investors
Democratizing Athlete Driven Media
Capturing the Athlete Transition Market
Building Around the Growth of Women's Sports
Investing in Athletes as an Asset Class
This weeks newsletter provides a look-back on Q1 for your review:
Powering the Next Wave of Athlete Investors
The top 1% of pro athletes have benefited from access to world class advisors, financial education and wealth management services.
These fintech startups are democratizing the playbook for the 99%:
Scout: the first digital family office solution for college athletes. Scout combines financial education, wealth management, and tax preparation with a premium financial concierge service to give NCAA players the same level of support as the pros.
The Players Company: A collective of 500+ professional athletes dedicated to empowering individuals through financial education and exclusive investment opportunities.
Athlete+: An athlete-centric financial services company and community, starting with its banking solution for current and former players. The platform provides a debit card, spending account and other features that help players automate, manage & monetize their NIL earnings.
Democratizing Athlete Driven Media
Player-driven media is the standard.
Athletes across the pros understand how important it is to control their narrative and relationship with fans.
And they have the infrastructure to do so with athlete-media co's, podcast networks and distribution platforms.
These media startups are bringing the playbook to the college level:
ByUs Media: An athlete-led NIL content studio founded by former NFL player Chris Borland and Gen Z Sports Media Entrepreneur Olivia Hancock, a duo that shares a mutual passion for bringing athlete-driven storytelling to the world of college sports.
FanWord: An NIL & athlete storytelling company focused on building solutions for athletic organizations that help their athletes grow, protect, and monetize their personal brands.
Mercury: The College Sports Co, builds brands, original content, talent and products that change the way fans interact with athletes & college teams.
Capturing the Athlete Transition Market
The athlete journey is an evolution, but one chapter we all eventually encounter: life after sports.
Fewer the 2% of NCAA student-athletes go pro. If they do go pro, the average career span is around 3 -5 years across major professional leagues.
At both levels, the transition is challenging.
These startups are building solutions to help athletes find success beyond the game:
ZIYNX: A next generation career platform for Gen Z, beginning with athletes. The hybrid marketing & career development app facilitates “micro-internship opportunities” through NIL campaigns.
Postseason: A social learning app that helps athletes continue their growth, success, and fulfillment beyond sports.
Urū: Partners with organizations that recognize the value of hiring athletes and streamlines their recruitment process through an exclusive database of over 1.6 million former athletes.
Building Around the Growth of Women's Sports
Women’s elite sports is projected to generate global revenues of US $1.28 billion in 2024 (via Deloitte).
Whether it's building women's sports focused brands or engaging the next generation of athletes as stakeholders, the opportunities for collaboration are growing.
These startups are bringing historic firsts to market:
Avoli: The world’s first brand dedicated solely to the performance needs and aspirations of women and girl volleyball athletes. Prior to Avoli's launch in 2023, there were no performance brands for the #1 participation team sport for girls in the U.S.
Moolah Kicks: The first and only performance brand focused exclusively on women's basketball, has positioned itself to become synonymous with the growth of the game — from its product to its partnerships.
Investing in Athletes as an Asset Class
Startups have been building around the insight that fans want to get closer to athletes (via patronage) through various mediums: subscription platforms, NFTs, social tokens, athlete stock markets and more.
But how will NIL tailwinds shape what fans want to invest in the most? Will it be rooted in performance or personal brand?
These recently launched platforms are placing their bets:
Vestible: An athlete-investment platform that allows fans to buy stock in their favorite athletes, has launched with NFL Player Baron Browning.
NILLY: An NIL investment tool that allows people to invest in NIL rights, while student-athletes capitalize on their earning potential.
Share Your Startup 🔊
As we continue to amplify startups building in collaboration with athletes, we’d love to hear from founders that want to share their stories.
For the opportunity to be spotlighted in an upcoming newsletter please complete the form here 🌐.