23 Capital, a leading capital and solutions provider to the Sports, Music and Entertainment (SM&E) sectors, has announced their investment in SRM Sport & Entertainment, a commercial rights business which unlocks value for international rights holders across sport, music, television and live entertainment.
SRM, co-founded by two senior executives with rights ownership backgrounds, Judith Griggs (ex-Formula One®), and Charles Garland (ex-Syco and XIX Entertainment), has direct experience in handling high value and complex transactions in the industry, which makes it a natural fit for 23 Capital.
Since inception, 23 Capital has deployed and advised on over $2.7bn of transactions and lends across multiple asset classes including highly visible and predictable IP cash flows including broadcasting rights, music royalties, licensing agreements and sponsorship.
More recently, 23Capital bankrolled OTRO, a new athlete generated social media platform that distributes content from some of the world’s top footballers, such as Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, David Beckham and Neymar jnr.
Collectively, the players have almost 1 billion followers on social media, and OTRO owns 1500 hours of production with the players and 6000 posts.
“The digital revolution continues to transform the sports, music and entertainment industries and SRM Sport & Entertainment’s experience of working with rights holders is not only invaluable but sits perfectly alongside 23 Capital’s specialist sector knowledge,” Stephen Duval, co-founder of 23 Capital said.
“We are delighted to be working with SRM and look forward to building on the opportunities presented by growth in the content and licensing of these industries,” Duval said.
As investment in these sectors continues to gain pace, and commercial rights are disrupted by new consumption trends and technological advances, SRM Sport & Entertainment will work with 23 Capital to deliver significant value to its clients.
SRM Sport & Entertainment offers unrivalled capability for rights holders, enabling them to maximise the value and revenue from their commercial rights portfolio.
This is done through three key business pillars; consultancy, rights representation and rights creation.
Judith Griggs and Charles Garland, Co-Founders of SRM Sport & Entertainment, said: “SRM is delighted to partner with 23 Capital. Their portfolio of investments in the sports and entertainment sectors plays directly to SRM’s strengths across commercial rights consultancy, representation and ownership.
“We look forward to creating a combined centre of excellence that will benefit both 23 Capital and SRM businesses.”
SRM has also announced the appointment of Mark Brittain as its inaugural CEO, who moves from his role as Chief Commercial Officer at Gfinity plc, a leading esports business and the only AIM-listed company in the sector.
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