🔊 Inside The €3.7B Bet On The Future Of Sports

This week, CVC Capital Partners announced a €3.7 billion ($4.29 billion) raise for its Global Sport Group (GSG) division, following the finalization of a complex financing deal with global private equity firm KKR and credit giant Pimco.

According to the Financial Times, Pimco will lend around €1.5 billion ($1.74 billion) to GSG, while KKR will lend an estimated €1.4 billion ($1.62 billion) to GSG using capital from insurer Global Atlantic.

Most of KKR’s financing will come in the form of preferred equity. Other lenders have also agreed to contribute smaller sums to GSG. KKR has also committed to paying up to €200 million ($231.7 million) for a 6% equity stake in GSG, with CVC to own the remaining stake in the unit.

Why This Matters

CVC spent months trying to sell a large stake in GSG at a €9 billion valuation, but several potential buyers passed on it.

Why?

Mainly due to the poor performance of some holdings.

Specifically, France's Ligue de Football Professionnel and Premiership Rugby.

What emerged instead is this debt-and-preferred-equity structure that provides CVC with capital while retaining control and giving it time to let underperforming assets mature.

The bigger sign from all of this is that institutional capital still wants exposure to sports assets, just on its own terms.

This deal also reflects the growing acceptance of private equity-owned sports assets among conservative credit investors.

PE firms spent over $12 billion across 95 sports deals in 2025, surpassing both 2024 and 2023 totals, according to PitchBook.

The money is still moving, but the patience for overpriced or underperforming assets is not.

The next phase of sports investing won't be about who can raise the biggest fund.

It'll be about who can actually operate these assets well.

The leagues and properties that can show real revenue growth and sustainability will attract the next wave of significant capital.

The ones who can't will find exits much harder than they expected.

From where I sit, that's actually good news.

A more selective market means the people doing real work, building real relationships, and actually understanding the business of sport will have an edge.

The easy money era of sports investing is over.

What comes next will be more interesting.

• Racquet 360 Raised $9M. Racquet 360, a premier integrated platform for the racquet sports industry in the US, announced a $9 million funding round. The round saw participation from a strategic mix of sports-focused private equity funds, angel investors, and family offices, including Sunrise Padel Capital, Profluence Capital, and Taktika Equity. The capital has already been fully deployed to scale the company’s core business units (more here).

• Aiko Raised $1.5M. Aiko, a Singapore-based sports intelligence startup, has raised a $1.5 million in pre-seed funding from several private investors. Aiko's platform creates a real-time intelligence layer for live sports by converting licensed match statistics into contextual insights and automated narratives. The capital will fuel accelerated product development and international expansion efforts (more here).

• SPORTL Raised £250K. SPORTL, a London-based pay-as-you-train fitness booking platform, launched this week across app stores after closing a £250,000 ($330K) pre-seed funding round. The investment round saw participation from notable strategic partners and investors, including Kevin Hewitt, former EMEA chairman of FTI Consulting, who will also join as chairman of the board for SPORTL. The capital will also see the rollout of new features once the initial product and offering have been established (more here).

• Mercury13 Invests In FC Badalona Women. Women’s soccer-focused investment group Mercury13 has made its third acquisition, purchasing a majority stake in Spanish top-flight side FC Badalona Women. This marks the first time a multi-club group in women’s soccer has invested in the Spanish market. The agreement was also followed by a pair of major new sponsorship agreements, with global sportswear brand Nike stepping in as the club's technical partner, and ticketing platform Fever joining as the principal front-of-shirt sponsor and a strategic partner. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• AO Ventures Invests In Mindspring. Sports tech venture capital fund AO Ventures has doubled down on its investment in Mindspring Padel, which enables padel clubs and venue operators to build courts without significant upfront capital. AO Ventures General Partner Todd Deacon said the follow-on investment reflected the fund’s conviction in Mindspring’s role in unlocking padel’s long-term potential. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Underdog Acquires Aristotle. Undergdog, a US-based fantasy sports platform, has acquired Aristotle Exchange, a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization, allowing the company to eventually offer event contracts directly rather than relying on third-party infrastructure. The acquisition gives Underdog control of a Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated exchange and clearinghouse. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Kaizen Gaming Acquires GameplAI. Kaizen Gaming, one of the world’s leading gaming tech companies, has acquired the AI-driven sports trading and analytics provider GameplAI to enhance its Betano brand. Kaizen Gaming will use GameplAI's tools to enhance Betano's proprietary capabilities. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• MLB & Adobe Expand Partnership. The MLB has announced a renewal and expansion of its long-running partnership with design software giant Adobe ahead of the new season. Through the multi-year extension, Adobe will work with the league on digital fan experiences and provide solutions for the MLB’s marketing, product, and content departments. As part of the expanded partnership, Adobe is also the official presenting sponsor of MLB opening day in 2026, 2027, and 2028 (more here).

• ATP Tour & Overtime Announce Partnership. The ATP and Overtime announced a renewed partnership for 2026, following a breakthrough first year that generated more than 80 million views. The renewed partnership will expand to cover more tournaments in more countries across the 2026 season. Overtime will create player-led short-form content that goes behind the scenes at ATP Masters 1000, ATP 500, and ATP 250 events, providing fans with a year-round look at life on the Tour and player personalities, as well as new formats for previewing and recapping tournaments (more here).

• Polymartet, TWG AI & Palantir Announce Partnership. Polymarket announced a partnership with Palantir Technologies Inc. and TWG AI to monitor its sports contracts and prevent insider trading. Polymarket said the new platform will promote the trust, transparency, and reliability that participants, institutions, and the public deserve from prediction markets. The system will be deployed on a US-regulated venue currently under development (more here).

• Kevin Durant Announces New NIL Program. Kevin Durant and the University of Texas announced a partnership in which the NBA star will launch an NIL program at the university backed by Nike. Current Texas women’s basketball star Madison Booker is the first athlete to sign a deal, and through the program, Longhorns athletes will get early access to KD player exclusives and apparel. Texas also said future athlete signings will be on the way across basketball and other sports (more here).

• Angel Reese Joins Brisbane Bullets Ownership Group. WNBA star Angel Reese has joined the Brisbane Bullets ownership group. The investment group is led by DC United majority owner Jason Levien and co-owner Ben Haan. This move follows her high-profile visit to Australia with Reebok to launch new colorways of her signature Angel Reese 1 basketball sneaker. Financial details around her equity were not disclosed (more here).

• Tamika Catchings Joins The UPSHOT League. The UPSHOT League, a new professional women's basketball league, announced that women’s basketball legend Tamika Catchings has joined the league as an advisor and investor. Catchings joins a leadership group that already includes basketball pioneers Cheryl Miller and Ann Meyers Drysdale. Financial details around her investment were not disclosed (more here).

• Sir Andy Murray Invests In Manors Golf. Tennis legend Andy Murray has invested in the luxury UK golf brand Manors, alongside consumer VC fund Redrice Ventures. Murray is an associate partner of Redrice Ventures, which has led Manors’ latest £3 million funding round. The startup plans to use the capital to “fuel its next phase of international expansion” into the US (more here).

• Wasserman Announces Rebrand. Global sports marketing and talent agency Wasserman has been rebranded to The·Team following the naming of its founder and former CEO, Casey Wasserman, in the Jeffrey Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice. The rebrand also follows Casey Wasserman’s departure from the company and his announcement last month that he would sell the industry giant (more here).

• VitalMatch Accelerator Announces Relaunch. VitalMatch Accelerator has been launched as the new identity of the accelerator program dedicated to Sport and Wellness from CDP Venture Capital’s National Accelerator Network. After three annual cycles in Rome under the name WeSportUp, the program is relocating to Turin. This move reinforces Turin’s role as a leading hub of technological innovation and inaugurates the fourth phase of the project, focusing on wellness, health, and longevity. It is promoted by CDP Venture Capital, with operational support from Startupbootcamp and Wylab (more here).

This week’s guest on the Vetted Sports podcast is Spencer Keith Jones.

Spencer Keith Jones is a forward for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets as well as an up-and-coming tech investor.

His investment portfolio includes companies such as Aescape, Rain, Planting, Pison, and ANDIEM.

In this episode, we discuss:

‣ Opportunities he’s looking to invest in
‣ His process for analyzing and vetting deals
‣ Advice for founders trying to cut through the noise

Check out the full episode here: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

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