Courtside Ventures, a leading early-stage venture capital firm that invests in category-defining companies across sports, gaming, and lifestyle, has announced a US$100 million Fund III from several investors.
The fund’s investors include a diverse group of industry leaders across professional sports team owners, athletes, and industry executives.
Notable investors include Tony Ressler, Dan Gilbert, David Blitzer, Dee and Jimmy Haslam, Tisch Family, Lerner Family, Idan Ofer, Alec Litowitz, John Burbank, Dan Sundheim and Larry Fitzgerald, Shaquille O’Neal and Jacob Trouba.
Since its launch in 2016, Courtside Ventures has continuously proven the success of their investment strategy, with investments in more than 80 thematically focused companies across 8 countries, including The Athletic, Beam, StockX and 100Thieves.
Courtside Ventures has already begun deployment of Fund III, with investments including Hypothetic, Matchday, Mojo, Xpoint, Jackpot.com, Venly, Planet Mojo, Bezel, Fliff, Fermat, and Fello.
Commenting on the company, Courtside Ventures partner, Deepen Parikh, said: “Courtside Ventures has a track record of successfully backing and accelerating culture-shaping companies that are driving innovation, and with Fund III we will continue to invest with conviction in great founders and disruptive ideas in our key verticals of sports, fitness, collectibles, and gaming,” Parikh said.
The Athletic co-founder and CEO, Alex Mather, added: “From the moment they led our seed round through our exit to The New York Times, Courtside Ventures was an instrumental partner and board member for The Athletic.
“They took an early bet on our vision to redefine sports journalism when most other VC firms had passed and continued to support us at every phase of our growth, setting them apart from many others in the industry,” he said.
The announcement brings Courtside Ventures’ total committed capital to over $200 million AUM, and the firm is committed to investing in and supporting its portfolio companies, which are well positioned to maintain resilience in a market where calculated execution is key.
