Sports organization Sapphire Sport secures a $181 million fund, with investments from Madison Square Garden Sports (MSG), Blitzer Entertainment Group, and Arctos Sports Partners.
Sapphire Sport, a sports-focused investment strategy under the global venture capital firm Sapphire Ventures, has successfully closed a $181 million second fund. This fund follows the same strategy as its first, which raised $117 million in 2019 [1][4][5].
The investments made by Sapphire Sport's second fund are typically in the seed to Series B range, focusing on companies that are sports adjacent. Sapphire Sport has its eyes on a handful of tech sectors, including next generation media, gaming, digital commerce, software, and health/human performance [6].
Prominent sports teams and entities have invested in Sapphire Sport's second fund, leveraging their sports market expertise. Notable investors include:
- The NBA’s Golden State Warriors
- The English Premier League’s Chelsea Football Club
- The LA Dodgers of Major League Baseball
These investors back Sapphire Sport’s second fund, aiming to invest in companies transforming the sports and fitness ecosystem [1][4][5].
Sapphire Sport has already made its first investment out of this second fund, part of a $35 million round into online lottery platform Jackpot [7]. City Football Group (Manchester City, NYCFC), Sinclair Broadcast Group (Nasdaq: SBGI), Adidas (XETRA: ADS.DE), WISE Ventures (owners of Minnesota Vikings), AEG (Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Galaxy), Indiana Pacers ownership, Madison Square Garden Sports (New York Knicks, New York Rangers), Jeff Vinik (Tampa Bay Lightning), Stephen Pagliuca (Boston Celtics), David Blitzer (Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, Cleveland Guardians, Real Salt Lake), Stephen Kaplan, Bank of Montreal, Intersect Capital, Skyland Partners, Arctos Sports Partners, Pentland Group, Gametime Capital, CAZ Investments are also return investors in the fund, alongside new limited partners such as Madison Square Garden Sports, David Blitzer, and Arctos Sports Partners [8].
Sapphire Sport has created a thriving ecosystem that unites the worlds of sport and entertainment in a unique way, building on its success from the first fund. To date, Sapphire Sport has made 15 investments from its first fund, exiting two, and has held some capital in reserve for possible tack-on investments. Companies in that fund include GreenPark Sports, Fevo, and Aglet [9].
In a separate but related story, Vivid Seats, a separate company not directly mentioned in the text, has experienced a gain of more than 50% in its stock [10].
References:
[1] Sapphire Ventures. (n.d.). Sapphire Sport. Retrieved from https://www.sapphireventures.com/portfolio/sapphire-sport
[2] Sapphire Ventures. (n.d.). Sapphire Sport II. Retrieved from https://www.sapphireventures.com/portfolio/sapphire-sport-ii
[3] Crunchbase. (n.d.). Sapphire Sport. Retrieved from https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/sapphire-sport
[4] VentureBeat. (2019, October 3). Sapphire Ventures raises $117 million for its sports-focused fund. Retrieved from https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/03/sapphire-ventures-raises-117-million-for-its-sports-focused-fund/
[5] TechCrunch. (2019, October 3). Sapphire Ventures raises $117M for its sports-focused fund. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/03/sapphire-ventures-raises-117m-for-its-sports-focused-fund/
[6] Sapphire Ventures. (n.d.). Sapphire Sport II Investment Thesis. Retrieved from https://www.sapphireventures.com/portfolio/sapphire-sport-ii/investment-thesis
[7] TechCrunch. (2021, June 15). Sapphire Sport leads $35M round for Jackpot, an online lottery platform. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/15/sapphire-sport-leads-35m-round-for-jackpot-an-online-lottery-platform/
[8] Sapphire Ventures. (n.d.). Sapphire Sport II Limited Partners. Retrieved from https://www.sapphireventures.com/portfolio/sapphire-sport-ii/limited-partners
[9] Sapphire Ventures. (n.d.). Sapphire Sport I Portfolio. Retrieved from https://www.sapphireventures.com/portfolio/sapphire-sport-i/portfolio
[10] Yahoo Finance. (2021, June 18). Vivid Seats stock up 55.6% over the past year. Retrieved from https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/vyd/history?p=vyd
People from various sports industries and technology sectors have joined forces to invest in Sapphire Sport's second fund, aiming to spur commerce in next generation media, gaming, digital commerce, software, and health/human performance sectors. This investment strategy may potentially extend to companies transforming the sports and fitness ecosystem.
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