Sapphire Sport, a New York-based provider of an investment platform at the intersection of technology, sport, media and entertainment, closed its Second Fund, at $181M.
Limited Partners included returning investors like anchor City Football Group, Sinclair Broadcast Group, adidas, Anschutz Entertainment Group, Bank of Montreal, Intersect Capital, the ownership of the Indiana Pacers, WISE Ventures (the investment fund of the Wilf family), Jeff Vinik (owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning) and Skyland Partners, among others. 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.
Following its $117M initial fund announced in January 2019, this new vehicle will continue to focus on Seed to Series B companies powering the next generation of consumer behavior across media, digital commerce, gaming, health and human performance, culture and community.
Co-founded and led by Doug Higgins and Michael Spirito, Sapphire Sport backs Seed to Series B companies and founders looking to build and scale companies of consequence in these high growth areas. Backers companies include Aglet, Breathwrk, Buzzer, GreenPark, Jackpot.com, Fevo, Flowhaven, Manticore, Market, Mixhalo, mycujoo (acquired by DAZN), Overtime, Phoenix Labs (acquired by Garena), PlayVS, POAP and Tonal.
The firm now has ~$300M in assets under management.
FinSMEs
25/01/2023