🔊 $310M Soccer Agency Launches Overnight

📰 TOP STORY
Bruin Capital Acquires Four Agencies To Launch As1

• Bruin Capital is one of the premier investment firms in the sports industry. Over the past several years, they’ve acquired and invested in numerous sports-related companies such as On Location, oddschecker, PlayGreen, Full Swing Golf, Deltatre, Box To Box Films, Soulsight, and TwoCircles. This week, they announced four significant sports agency acquisitions in Nomi Sports, Position Number, Promoesport, and Football Division Worldwide. The result? A newly formed a new international soccer agency called As1. As1, led by industry veteran Ignacio Aguillo, will represent more than 300 athletes and coaches from 35 countries. At a $310M valuation, the agency is already one of the top ten biggest sports agencies in the world. Bruin Capital founder George Pyne sees this as a long-term play where they can add tremendous value to their athletes and coaches by leveraging their expertise and media businesses. Athletes are global brands and since Bruin owns and operates various media-focused companies, they believe they can build and scale their clients’ influence globally and into other markets. Bruin Capital invests in a wide spectrum of sports-related businesses but this fits right into their overall thesis:

➊ Strong growth fundamentals
➋ Can add expertise & value
➌ Belief & relationship with the leadership team

Check out this interview for more → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bCaEDetqG4

💰 MONEY MOVES 
B2B Gamification Company Raises $10M With Help From NBA Star

• Lucra Sports Raises $10M. Lucra Sports, a B2B sports gamification software company, recently raised a $10M funding round. The round was led by 7GC & Co, SeventySix Capital, and Major League Pickleball founder Steve Kuhn and was joined by basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ark Invest, and Simplex Equity. The startup has 17 partners, including Dave & Buster's Inc., Five Iron Golf, TouchTunes, and RPM Raceway (more here).

• GROWL Raises $4.75M. Connected boxing startup GROWL emerged from stealth to unveil a $4.7M seed round. Their groundbreaking product: a boxing bag transformed into a personal, at-home boxing & fitness coach. The product goes beyond traditional fitness devices, offering an immersive, gamified, and AI-enabled experience designed for the whole family. GROWL’s investors included lead investor Skip Capital, along with Kima Ventures, Teampact Ventures, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane (more here).

• CoachIQ Raises $1.3M. CoachIQ, an all-in-one business platform for private sports coaching businesses, recently announced the closing of a $1.3M seed round led by Utah-based Startup Ignition Ventures. Other investors include Tanner Scheppers, retired MLB pitcher; Jeff Hartings, retired NFL offensive lineman; Adam Menner, sports coaching business owner and CoachIQ customer; James Kovach, retired NFL linebacker; and Chris Magleby, a Utah-based entrepreneur and CEO of Mindless Labs, among others (more here).

• Albatross Golf Raises $675K. Golftech startup Albatross Golf which has two flagship offerings: GolfTRK and Noonan announced a $675K funding round, fueled in large part by the Kansas Angel Investor Tax Credit (KAITC) program. The funding will drive the growth of GolfTRK, a modern training and performance indoor golf, and Noonan, a patent-pending Digital Caddie platform currently in Beta, which uses simulator data to deliver intelligent shot recommendations and help golfers lower their scores (more here).

• UTR Sports Acquires PicklePlay. UTR Sports, creator of the tournament management software and the world’s most accurate pickleball rating system, announced it has acquired PicklePlay, a popular platform designed to simplify the process for pickleball players and organizers to connect, find local courts, and manage events. The acquisition will help UTR Sports expand its mission of creating more opportunities for players at every stage of the game and deepen its support for local pickleball communities (more here).

• The Ferdinand Group Invests In Koora Break. The Ferdinand Group, owned by English football legend Rio Ferdinand, has invested in and acquired a minority stake in Koora Break, the fastest-growing soccer app in the Middle East and North Africa. The deal aims to give Koora Break funding to expand beyond Arabic-language content and build an audience outside the Middle East while also helping Ferdinand Group expand its presence in the region (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Sports Innovation Lab Teams Up With Athletech News

• Sports Innovation Lab Partners With Athletech News. Sports Innovation Lab, a data-driven fan intelligence company, has partnered with Athletech News, the fitness and wellness industry's leading media outlet, to develop in-depth profiles of fitness enthusiasts and health-conscious Fluid Fans in the United States (more here).

• USTA Partners With LEAD. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) aims to grow and promote tennis through a new collaboration with the global venture corporation LEAD. By joining as a strategic collaborator of LEAD One, a new direct-investment vehicle for pre-seed companies, the USTA aims to access startups and technologies to help drive the tennis and sports business (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER NEWS
Former NBA Player Launches $100M SportsTech Fund

• Metta World Peace Launches $100M SportsTech Fund. According to Sportico, Metta World Peace, a former NBA superstar and champion, has teamed up with former Boost Mobile CEO Stephen Stokols to launch a venture fund, Tru Skye Ventures. They’re looking to raise $100MM by the end of the first quarter of next year. The fund will target sports tech companies, digital media platforms, and health and wellness innovation (more here).

• Ex-NBA Athlete Omri Casspi Launches $60M Fund. Former NBA athlete Omri Casspi has raised $60M for his latest venture fund, Swish Ventures. The fund will invest in early-stage cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI startups. The fund plans to back 10 companies and invest $5M to $7M per deal. Swish Ventures is Casspi’s second fund following the launch of Sheva Capital, a $36M fund, in 2022 (more here).

• Nike Shuts Down RTFKT. RTFKT, a digital fashion and technology company acquired by Nike in 2021, is closing. Nike and RTFKT worked on several shoe collections together during the height of the pandemic. However, post-boom, RTFKT’s NFTs saw their values decline, struggling to keep the community engaged (more here).

• Canada Unveils First WNBA Team. The WNBA has officially announced its first team for Canada called the Toronto Tempo. The Toronto Tempo is set to debut in 2026 at the Coca-Cola Coliseum. This team adds to the WNBA’s expansion of the Golden State’s Valkyries debuting in 2025 and Portland’s newest team is also set to debut in 2026 (more here).

• 100x Sports Launches Backed by Silicon Valley Investors. 100x Sports, a new sports agency, backed by a team of Silicon Valley investors, has launched with a new approach to sports management. Their vision is to create more opportunities for their professional athletes beyond sports while providing a holistic approach to their lives. Their initial investors include Steve Chen (Co-founder of YouTube), SparkLabs Group, and Trademark Capital (more here).

• Fintech App Robinhood Considers Move Into Sports Betting. CEO Vlad Tenev says that the brokerage firm is considering expanding into sports betting in some way. Tenev indicated that a move into sports could take the form of event contracts, like the ones the firm launched right before the presidential election. Those markets, which let users buy and sell from each other, are different than traditional sportsbooks where all bets are made against the house (more here).

• NFL Owners Fully Embrace Private Equity Funding. NFL owners are turning to private equity investors to raise capital, adding even more value to their franchises. In the past month or so, four franchises have pursued such windfalls, with likely approval by NFL full ownership coming this month (more here).

 • IPL's Brand Value Soars In 2024, Here Are The Top 10 Most Valuable IPL Brands. The IPL's brand value has soared to an impressive $12B in 2024, reflecting a 13% growth from last year. Leading teams like CSK, MI, and RCB highlight the league's success, with brand values exceeding $100M for the first time, marking a significant milestone in global sports commerce (more here).

• Powerade Unveils The Athletes Code To Champion Mental Health In Sports. Powerade has unveiled The Athletes Code, a groundbreaking initiative that puts athletes' mental health at the forefront. This contractual provision ensures athletes can take needed breaks without jeopardizing their sponsorships. This initiative builds on the 2022 “Pause is Power” platform, where Powerade continues to challenge the “win at all costs” mentality to protect athletes’ well-being (more here).