🔊 Why Alexis Ohanian Is Going All-In On The $15 Billion Sports Trading Card Space

🗓️ Upcoming Events

💎 New Members

Seven Seven Six, Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian's venture capital firm, has acquired ONIT, the officially-licensed college sports trading card company.

ONIT creates trading cards for thousands of student-athletes on hundreds of collegiate teams, which include universities such as Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, and more.

Seven Seven Six has been aggressively investing in women's and emerging sports over the past several years, with a portfolio that includes Chelsea FC Women's, Angel City FC, Los Angeles Volleyball, LA Golf Club, and ATHLOS Track and Field, as well as sports tech startups such as ScorePlay and Jump.

Financial details around the acquisition were not disclosed.

Why This Matters

Alexis Ohanian is a visionary.

Because of this, he’s been early on a lot of things.

Women's sports. Emerging leagues. Sport tech platforms.

ONIT is next.

The sports trading card market is worth $15 billion, and it's almost entirely built around professional male athletes.

Seven Seven Six's acquisition of ONIT is a bet that college is the next frontier, especially for female athletes.

And the timing is perfect.

Since the NCAA opened the door to name, image, and likeness deals, many college athletes have turned themselves into mega brands.

Some arguably bigger than the universities they play for.

Fans aren't just invested in programs anymore.

They're investing, literally and figuratively, in players.

And wherever there's a personal brand, there's a collectible.

ONIT already works with more than 8,000 student-athletes across 212 teams and prints more women's sports cards than all other trading card companies combined.

Ohanian has built a lot of his sports investing thesis around being early in women's sports.

This is an extension of that same goal and focus.

The collectibles market has been taking off over the past couple of years, and the pros have had the space to themselves for long enough.

Seven Seven Six just made an underrated, yet significant move to position itself at the front of what comes next for student-athletes.

• Enhanced Group Raises $50M. Enhanced Group $ENHA ( ▲ 11.03% ), a performance medicine and sports entertainment company that produces the Enhanced Games, has closed a $50 million private investment in public equity financing. The transaction was led by Apeiron Investment Group, Enhanced co-founder and Chairman Christian Angermayer's family office, as well as co-Founder and CEO Maximilian Martin, along with global institutional investors. Enhanced Games, which recently launched, engaged more than 1 billion people globally and saw 1 world record and 21 personal bests broken across 42 athletes (more here).

• Rocapine Raises $13M. Rocapine, a Paris-based wellness venture studio, has raised $13 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Educapital, with participation from Daphni, Ring Capital, Centre Court Capital, Athletico Ventures, and Better Angle. Additional backing came from several founders and operators in the health, consumer app, and mobile gaming sectors, including Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve of Alan, as well as founders from Yubo, Opal, Photoroom, Madbox, and The Sandbox. The company plans to use the new capital to transform its early product successes into category leaders, scale its testing engine to launch 400 sports and wellness apps, and strengthen its underlying AI, data, and marketing infrastructure (more here).

• Swsh Raises $4M. Swsh, a photo-driven fan community platform built for live events, has raised a $4M seed round led by Roger Ehrenberg's Game Changers Ventures. The round also included participation from Stellation Capital, SignalFire, and MaC Venture Capital, as well as notable angel investors like Scooter Braun, Guy Oseary, Julie Greenwald, Cory Levy, Hans Tung, Chris Detert, Shachar Scott, and Austin Rief. The platform turns fan-captured content from concerts, games, and brand activations into shared albums that organizations own, along with what the company calls first-party engagement data (more here).

• Hexis Raises $2.1M. Hexis, a personalized nutrition app, has raised $2.1 million in a Seed round led by Apex Capital, which previously led its $2 million pre-seed round in 2024. Enterprise Ireland, ScaleX Investments, and footballer Patrick Bamford also participated. The Dublin-based startup works with nearly 40% of Tour de France riders and 50% of Premier League clubs, including eight Tour de France teams such as EF Pro Cycling and INEOS. This new capital will go towards enhancing product development and driving the company's expansion, with a strategic focus on penetrating the US market (more here).

• Vibefam Raises $1M. Vibefam, a Singapore-based provider of an operating system for fitness businesses, raised $1 million in Seed funding. Backers were not disclosed. The company plans to use the funds to support continued product development, strategic hiring, and the expansion of its AI and embedded finance capabilities. It’s led by Lim Chun Yong, Serene Lim, and Lee Jia Yi, and provides an AI-powered operating system for fitness businesses that helps gyms, studios, and wellness operators manage scheduling, memberships, payments, customer engagement, reporting, and growth from a single platform (more here).

• Champ Fund Invests In Rhoback. Champ, a $500 million fund backed by LVMH's L Catterton and more than 250 athletes, has invested nearly $50 million in activewear brand Rhoback. This is the fund's debut investment. Athletes who are part of Champ include NBA star Kevin Durant, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, PGA Tour golfer Patrick Cantlay, Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase, and WNBA forward Cameron Brink. Rhoback has generated more than $150 million in revenue in 2025 and is on track to top $200 million in 2026 (more here).

• MSP Sports Capital Acquires New Zealand SailGP Team. MSP Sports Capital, a New York City-based sports-focused private equity firm, has acquired a majority stake in the Black Foils, New Zealand's SailGP team led by Olympic champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. MSP’s portfolio includes or has included McLaren Racing, Everton FC, and the X Games League. The firm was founded by investor-operators Jeff Moorad and Jahm Najafi. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Escalante Golf Acquires GreenGolfBall. Escalante Golf, a boutique owner and operator of luxury golf properties across 17 US states, has acquired GreenGolfBall Ltd, an Ireland-based golf tour operator specializing in bespoke golf travel experiences. With Escalante’s support, GreenGolfBall will accelerate its growth plans, expand product offerings across Ireland, Scotland, and Great Britain, and deepen partnerships throughout Europe and North America. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

The best deals in sports never get announced.

They get done quietly, by people who know each other.

Vetted Sports is where this happens.

We’re building a private network where investors, dealmakers, and owners who are actually moving capital in this space meet.

Exclusive events, curated introductions, quality deal flow, and an advisory board stacked with some of the most prominent names in sports investing.

Membership is by application only, and spots are capped.

If you have to ask whether this is for you, it probably isn't.

If you already know, tap in with us 👉 www.vettedsports.com

• F1 & Fever Announce Partnership. Formula 1 has signed a five-year deal, from 2027 to 2031, with ticketing firm Fever for a new platform on its website, boosting the latter’s racing portfolio. Fever’s deal covers ticketing for general admission, local hospitality, and the Paddock Club, F1’s premium hospitality service. Fever will provide full ticketing services via the F1 website or app, including pre- and post-race customer service. The company said it will make it easier for F1 fans to search for and find tickets for events, while featuring a modern interface (more here).

• IFAF & TMRW Sports Announce Partnership. The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) has announced a strategic partnership with TMRW Sports, the company founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, to support the development of flag football. The collaboration is focused on further accelerating the game's growth, visibility, and accessibility worldwide. The partnership comes soon after TMRW Sports was appointed by the NFL to develop and operate a new professional flag football league for women and men. The league will launch before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where flag football will make its debut (more here).

• Utah Jazz & HealthEquity Announce Partnership. The Utah Jazz have announced a partnership with HealthEquity, a healthcare service provider, which will become the official jersey patch partner of the Jazz and Salt Lake City Stars. The HealthEquity logo will appear on players' jerseys throughout the season, and the expanded partnership includes new youth sports initiatives such as a scholarship to help more Utah children participate in organized sports. The partnership will also provide support for the Junior Jazz and Jazz Bantam Basketball programs (more here).

• Splash Sports & Polymarket Announce Partnership. Polymarket, one of the world's largest prediction markets, and Splash Sports, the leader in skill-based social sports gaming, announced a new partnership that will bring prediction markets to Splash users beginning with the 2026 NFL season. As part of the partnership, Polymarket will also sponsor the world's largest pro football survivor contest, featuring a record $21 million in guaranteed prizes. Traders will also be able to access the prediction market's offerings via Splash's platform (more here).

• USL & Kitman Labs Expand Partnership. Kitman Labs, a sports-focused technology and data analytics firm, has expanded its partnership with the United Soccer League (USL). The new multi-year agreement will focus on Kitman’s Performance Medicine Solution, with all clubs competing across the second-tier USL Championship given access to the company’s iP: Intelligence Platform to aggregate, unify, and activate medical and performance data at scale. The USL said the partnership will enable consistent league-wide medical workflows, integrated collaboration between staff, operational efficiency for practitioners, and high-quality datasets, creating a foundation for league-wide injury surveillance (more here).

• Gareth Bale Launches Sports Fund. Juggernaut Capital Partners, a Washington-DC-based private equity firm, has teamed up with former soccer player Gareth Bale to launch a dedicated sports investment platform. Juggernaut Diversified Sports, as it’s called, will seek to invest across a range of sports opportunities, with a focus on control equity investments and other flexible capital solutions. Initial areas of focus include domestic sports teams and leagues, international football clubs, women’s sports, youth sports and athlete development platforms, golf and experiential sports assets, and consumer-facing businesses connected to sports and fandom (more here).

• Rohit Sharma Invests In Fittr. Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma has joined fitness startup Fittr as an investor and equity partner. Sharma has invested an undisclosed amount and will take an equity stake as he deepens his association with the company. The startup has raised nearly $17 million in total from investors, including Rainmatter, Peak XV's Surge, and Elysian Park Ventures, and has also received backing from actor Suniel Shetty (more here).

• Shoot 360 Generates $20M+ In Annual Revenue. Craig Moody is the founder and president of Shoot 360, a tech-powered, gamified basketball training franchise that now generates over $20 million in annual revenue.
Moody had the idea for the company in 2012, after observing his son and a friend play video games instead of playing basketball outside. Shoot 360 has about 60 operating locations, with another 60 in the pipeline. Entrepreneur Magazine has the full story (more here).

• NBA Champ Jayson Tatum Says The Old Athlete Endorsement Model Is Dead. Today, consumers can tell the difference between someone who genuinely believes in a product and someone cashing a check. This topic came up naturally during conversations with Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum and Onside founder Bradley Churchill. Onside is a men’s personal care brand built around performance, movement, and daily routines. A stickler for hygiene, Tatum’s partnership with Onside is the latest move in the NBA champion’s growing portfolio. Inc has the full story (more here).

• Electronic Arts Introduces EA Advertising. Electronic Arts, the digital interactive entertainment company, announced the launch of EA Advertising, a new way for brands to connect with fans through its portfolio of games. EA Advertising is expanding EA’s ecosystem by enabling brands to integrate directly into gameplay through dynamic, real-time placements, from stadium signage to custom in-game content. This way, brands can become part of the game itself, reflecting how players engage with advertising in real-world contexts through digital ad boards, scoreboards, and brand broadcast overlays (more here).