Investing in early-stage tech, sport & media companies, Sapphire Sport, has bolstered its investor line-up and funding muscle.
Following an initial US$117 million funding vehicle announced in January 2019, the company has followed up with an oversubscribed US$181 million second fund vehicle. This has been backed by major names across sport, business and media.
New investors include Madison Square Garden Sports, Arctos Partners, Pentland Group, Gametime Capital, Stephen Kaplan (Chairman of Nalpak Capital), Stephen Pagliuca (Co-Chairman of Bain Capital, co-owner of the Boston Celtics), David Blitzer (owner of several teams) and CAZ Investments, among others.
Other backers for the fund include: Adidas, AEG, LA Galaxy, MLB and SAP, among others.
Co-founded and led by Doug Higgins and Michael Spirito, Sapphire Sport pairs tech investment experience with brands across global sport, business and media.
“When we launched Sapphire Sport in 2019, we believed that the sport, media and entertainment industries would be better served by an institutional investment approach to the sector, one that brought the experience and partnership of sport and entertainment stakeholders to venture capital,” said Michael Spirito and Doug Higgins, Co-Founding Partners of Sapphire Sport.
To date: companies in which Sapphire Sport has invested include breathing platform Breathwrk; event audio specialist Mixhalo; sports streamer MyCujoo (acquired by DAZN); high school esports league PlayVS; and smart home gymp platform Tonal.
www.sapphireventures.com/funds/sapphire-sport
