🔊 Why This $50 Billion Investment Firm Is Buying A Piece Of An MLB Team

This week, Thrive Capital, a tech-focused venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, launched a new company to invest in legacy assets, with its first bet targeting MLB.

The company, called Thrive Eternal, announced an agreement to acquire a minority stake in the San Francisco Giants, last valued by Forbes at $4 billion, pending league approval.

Kushner says this is part of the firm's push to back "assets with qualities that cannot be replicated by technology." Unlike typical institutional investors, Thrive Eternal is structured as a permanent capital holder with a multi-decade outlook.

Thrive Capital has backed some of the most impactful tech companies of the last decade, including OpenAI, Stripe, Cursor, Ramp, Instagram, Spotify, GitHub, Databricks, and Anduril.

It also operates Thrive Holdings, which invests in, acquires, and builds businesses that benefit from long-term, technology-driven transformation. The firm currently manages more than $50 billion in assets and raised its largest fund ever, over $10 billion, earlier this year.

Why This Matters

We're watching the pendulum swing back in real-time.

For the past 15 years, technology has changed every facet of our daily lives.

There isn't a day that goes by that you or I don't interact with it in some form.

Although that won’t change, it's also created overreliance and overwhelm.

And AI is making this worse.

Digital content is being devalued by the day.

Anyone can publish a video, generate an article, or clone a voice. As a result, feeds have gotten noisier and less trustworthy.

But what can't be manufactured at scale is real-life experiences and human interaction.

This is what Thrive Capital is betting on.

And they're not alone.

For example, Sideline Group, an investment firm founded by former Tiger Global partner Greg Mazlin, recently closed a $155 million debut fund to invest in what it calls the "Offline Economy."

Late last year, notable entertainment executive Ari Emanuel announced MARI, a $2 billion holding company to assemble what he believes are the world's most irreplaceable live experiences.

Live sports, concerts, boutique fitness, social clubs, wine tastings, and any experience that requires a physical presence are becoming increasingly powerful, specifically because of how digital everything has become.

In addition, scarce legacy brands will also see an increase in value and attention.

The offline economy might be harder to scale, but it will never disappear.

At the end of the day, we need connection and real relationships.

Though AI will reshape many aspects of our lives, the things it can't touch will become more desirable, and dollars will flow towards them.

• Harbinger Sports Partners Raises $450M. Harbinger Sports Partners, a sports-focused investment fund led by Mark Cuban, Rashaun Williams, Jonathan Mariner, and Steve Cannon, announced the close of its debut fund with $450 million in commitments. The company has reportedly attracted commitments from a mix of family offices, private wealth investors, and institutional backers. They are targeting $750 million overall and could ultimately expand toward $1 billion if investor demand continues (more here).

• Haslam Family Acquires NWSL Columbus Team For $205M. The NWSL officially announced that they have named Columbus, Ohio, as the next destination for its newest expansion club. It will be the 18th club to enter the league, and will reportedly cost a $205 million expansion fee. The Haslam Sports Group (HSG) will lead the ownership group, along with the Columbus-based insurance company Nationwide and fellow Columbus Crew owners Drs. Christine and Pete Edwards. HSG also owns controlling stakes in the MLS’s Columbus Crew, the Cleveland Browns, and the Milwaukee Bucks (more here).

• Churchill Downs Acquires Preakness Stakes For $85M. Churchill Downs Incorporated, parent company of the notable Churchill Downs racetrack, has acquired the Preakness Stakes, an annual thoroughbred horse race held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. The definitive agreement includes all of the intellectual property, including all trademarks and associated rights, of the Preakness as well as the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes from 1/ST Maryland LLC, an affiliate of 1/ST Racing (more here).

• Lucra Raises $20M. Lucra, a social gamification and loyalty rewards platform, has raised a $20 million funding round led by Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Venture Fund, with participation from industry-leading investors including Alumni Ventures, Astralis Capital, Harlo Equity Partners, Simplex Ventures, SeventySix Capital, and WTI. The capital will be focused on building the infrastructure layer for the next generation of loyalty across real-world venues and consumer experiences (more here).

• VisioLab Raises $11M. VisioLab, a German startup that makes AI-powered self-checkout systems for food services, has raised a $11 million Series A round led by eCAPITAL and Simon Capital. Existing backers High-Tech Gründerfonds, APX (the joint Axel Springer and Porsche fund), and zwei.7 also participated. The platform is deployed across multiple sectors, including sports and entertainment, and travel and leisure. The new funding will support the next phase of international expansion, including stadium-wide rollouts at the Orlando Magic’s Amway Center and Inter Miami CF’s DRV PNK Stadium (more here).

• BetHog Raises $10M. BetHog, a crypto casino and sportsbook, has raised a $10 million Series A round. The round was co-led by Will Ventures and RockawayX, with participation from PCV, 6MV, Bullpen Capital, and Advancit Capital. The company also launched a new B2B platform that lets online casino operators deploy AI-powered live dealers. The capital will help expand its AI dealer technology on its consumer platform and accelerate the adoption of Sentient Studios, its new product for gaming operators (more here).

• PressBox Raises $2M. PressBox, an AI-powered content creation suite for sports leagues, teams, and media organizations, has raised $2 million in Seed funding led by Relay Ventures. The platform unifies editorial, marketing, broadcast, and social workflows into a single agent-driven system. The capital will help accelerate product development, key hires, and scaling for emerging sports (more here).

• KSL Capital Partners Acquires Invited Clubs. KSL Capital Partners, a premier travel & leisure-focused private equity firm, has agreed to acquire Invited Clubs, a US operator of golf, country, and city membership clubs, in a transaction valued at about $3 billion, including debt. Apollo is the current owner of the company, while KSL previously owned Invited from 2006 until it went public in 2013 (more here).

• TickPick Acquires Momento. TickPick, an online ticketing marketplace, has acquired Momento, a mobile app that lets fans capture, share, and relive live event experiences. TickPick plans to continue investing in the service as a separate platform while adding features that mix sales infrastructure with a database of past event attendance, according to Sportico. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Dick’s Sporting Goods & Adobe Announce Partnership. Dick’s Sporting Goods has partnered with Adobe to bring AI-powered “digital coaches” to its mobile app. The move is part of a broader push to expand personalization and connection across the retailer’s digital and in-store channels. Adobe said the new assistants will function as “AI agents,” offering sport-specific training tips and guiding shoppers from product discovery to recommendations “informed by specific athlete needs” (more here).

• Genius Sports & Swiss Football League Announce Partnership. Genius Sports, the leading sports data and technology firm, has announced a new agreement with the Swiss Football League. Starting with the 2026-27 campaign, clubs in the 12-team top-flight Swiss Super League will leverage the AI-powered GeniusIQ platform applied at their stadium. The partnership is primarily focused on data retrieval and collation, as well as generating more accurate insights and predictive analytics for commercial activation and on-pitch activity (more here).

• TeamSnap & XbotGo Announce Partnership. TeamSnap, a leading youth sports management platform, has agreed to a multi-year partnership with XbotGo, an AI-powered camera maker, to enhance the video streaming capabilities of its recently launched TeamSnap One platform. By combining TeamSnap’s scale with XbotGo’s Falcon AI-powered camera technology, the companies want to make it easier for coaches, parents, and organizations to capture, share, and relive important moments (more here).

• New England Patriots & UGREEN Announce Partnership. UGREEN, a Chinese consumer electronics brand, has made its first foray into sports sponsorship, announcing a new partnership with the New England Patriots. Under the agreement, Ugreen will become the team’s official technology accessories partner for the 2026 NFL season, aiming to boost its visibility in the North American market. The partnership will also allow Ugreen to showcase its portfolio of charging products, as well as its SynCare AIoT Series, which is due to make its commercial debut during the 2026 campaign, capitalizing on the NFL’s large audience (more here).

• L Catterton & Patricof Launch CHAMP. L Catterton and Patricof Co announced the formation of CHAMP, a new strategic fund and partnership “designed to pursue a universe of brands across the consumer landscape where deeply aligned athlete involvement can step-function growth.” CHAMP is said to be an athlete ownership model in which athletes participate directly alongside L Catterton and Patricof Co as co-owners of portfolio companies, to align interests that differ “meaningfully from traditional athlete-brand relationships.” To date, more than 250 elite athletes have partnered with the fund (more here).

• Jude Bellingham Invests In Birmingham Phoenix. English football player Jude Bellingham has bought a minority stake in Hundred franchise Birmingham Phoenix, worth around £1 million. Knighthead Capital, the American investment fund that owns Birmingham City FC, bought a 49% stake in the franchise last year, becoming a co-owner alongside host county Warwickshire. Warwickshire confirmed that the Real Madrid midfielder, who grew up in Birmingham, has since purchased a small stake from both parties. Bellingham's total stake is 1.2%, split equally between Warwickshire and Knighthead (more here).

• Kansas City Royals Announce $2B Crown Center Ballpark. The Kansas City Royals have announced plans to build a new ballpark in downtown Kansas City. The team secured $2 billion in private investment for the 85-acre Crown Center project that includes a park-like central square ​with fountains and keeps the club in Missouri. The project will be funded primarily by the Royals and other private investors and supplemented by public funding from the City of ​Kansas City and Missouri's ​Show-Me Sports Investment Act (more here).

• Andrea Agnelli Launches Sports Investment Fund. Andrea Agnelli, former president of Serie A football club Juventus, has launched Gamma Waves, a sports investment fund. Gamma Waves plans to invest in sports competitions, clubs, and athletes, as well as in growth-stage sports technology companies. It will also focus on investments in data analytics and AI-automated content production. The fund has received €55 million ($64 million) in firm funding commitments toward its €100 million target, as reported by the Financial Times (more here).

This week’s guest on the Vetted Sports podcast is Paul Rigault.

Paul Rigault is the CEO and Co-Founder of DØDS Diving League.

The Døds Diving League (DDL) is the official international competition circuit for døds (death diving), a Norwegian extreme sport where athletes jump from high platforms, performing tricks before landing in a curled, "flat-body" position to create a massive splash.

In this episode, we discuss:
‣ How Døds Diving League started
‣ The overall business and structure of the league
‣ International expansion and why he thinks the US is a huge opportunity

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