#159 💰 APEX Raising $350 Million Fund II for Sports Assets

Powering Innovation & Investment Insights in Sports. Every Week.

APEX is going for round II, and they weren’t the only fund having a busy week. Centre Court Capital closed their debut $50m fund. KKR entered advanced talks to buy a majority stake in Arctos Partners. Apollo Sports Capital took a minority stake in Wrexham A.F.C..

Hectic is the word. PR teams are really earning their Christmas bonuses.

💡 GLOBAL SPORTS TECH VC REPORT

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60 minute deep dive into investment activity in the Global Sports Tech Ecosystem

• Five year analysis of sports tech investment plus M&A with sector and geographical breakdowns.

• Coverage of the top sports tech companies, including funding rounds, M&A, IPOs, unicorns, and the investors behind them.

• Deep dives into key industry trends, including debt financing, new fund formation, and shifts in sports media.

• Dashboards and data views covering the global sports tech market and capital flows.

• A mapped overview of the global innovation ecosystem, including accelerators, labs, challenges, and industry led programs.

Fresh Capital in Sports: 28 new funds deployed $9.5 Billion

The funds mapped here represent $9.5B in disclosed capital across 32 vehicles, though only 17 of the 28 new funds have revealed their sizes Venture funds, private equity firms, family offices, and angel networks are all represented, with 23 launching in 2025 alone. Together they show how capital is being organized into dedicated structures for sports and adjacent entertainment, rather than treated as a side thesis inside generalist portfolios.

• $9.5 billion in new sports tech focused capital was announced.

• 28 new funds were announced, including 21 first time entrants and 7 follow on funds.

• The largest fund announced was Apollo Sports Capital at $5 billion.

• 67 percent of the new funds were based in North America, with the USA leading and India ranked second.

• 17 of the 28 funds disclosed their fund size at announcement.

Check out the full list of Venture Capital Funds, Private Equity, Family Investment Offices and Angel Networks -

Venture Capital:

1. Next Ventures

2. SeventySix Capital

3. Champion Venture Partner

4. True Sky Ventures

5. 359 Capital

6. Sharp Alpha Advisors

7. Scrum Ventures

8. Halo Experience Co

9. 51 Ventures

10. Red Bull Ventures

11. ….

Read the Global Sports Tech VC Report 2025 for the full investor list across all categories- .

If you need the complete picture for investment, strategy, partnerships or planning, the PRO report and Intelligence Hub provides the granularity needed for decision making.

📰 THE LATEST

Top News From The World Of Sports Tech & Biz

🏈 ESPN, the NFL and Disney teamed up to launch “Monsters Funday Football,” transforming Eagles vs Chargers gameplay into a Monsters, Inc.-themed live experience to deepen fan engagement, as part of a strategy to attract younger audiences through franchise storytelling.

⚙️ Fujitsu launched the Fujitsu Accelerator Program for SPORTS to support startups and partners developing new commercial and social value at the intersection of sports and advanced digital technologies.

📈 Fanatics launched Fanatics Markets across 24 U.S. states, rolling out regulated prediction contracts covering sports, finance, technology and culture in a phased national expansion.

🏃 U.S. Soccer launched the Kang Women’s Institute, backed by a historic gift from Michele Kang, to establish evidence-based standards for health, performance and injury prevention across women’s and girls’ soccer.

⚽ The Bundesliga launched its first-ever FAST channel in the UK and Ireland through Samsung TV Plus, delivering free, dedicated league content to expand reach among cord-cutting audiences.

🎮 EA Sports unveiled the Xbox Bowl inside College Football 26, offering an early look at the branded virtual bowl game ahead of its real-world debut.

📺 YouTube TV announced plans to launch more than 10 lower-priced, genre-specific subscription tiers in early 2026, including a sports package featuring ESPN Unlimited, FS1 and NBC Sports Network.

🤖 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella demonstrated a custom cricket analytics app built using Microsoft’s AI tools at a developer event in Bengaluru, India.

⚽ LaLiga and Globant implemented Agentic AI at scale through Globant’s Sportian platform to accelerate decision-making across talent, operations and technology using AI Pods.

📺 Disney shut down ESPN3 as it shifted programming and distribution toward ESPN Unlimited, consolidating linear and streaming sports content under a single subscription offering.

⛵ SailGP reported revenue exceeding $200 million during its 2025 season, driven by new teams, celebrity owners and an expanded race calendar.

🏏 JioStar began exiting its $3 billion ICC broadcast rights deal after mounting unsustainable losses, triggering a major rethink of cricket’s global media-rights economics and long-term monetisation model.

💸 APEX launched a €300 million private equity fund focused on acquiring minority stakes in football and Formula 1 teams as it shifted away from sports tech venture capital.

💰 Centre Court Capital closed its debut fund at $49.6 million (in ₹410 crore), exceeding its original ₹350 crore target and underscoring rising investor conviction in India’s sports, fitness, wellness and social gaming ecosystem. The fund will write initial cheques of ₹8-24 crore and plans to lead or co-lead most of its 15-18 investments, with significant reserves for follow-on rounds.

🤝 KKR entered advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in Arctos Partners, the Dallas-based sports investment firm that holds minority positions in franchises including Liverpool FC, Paris Saint-Germain, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Dodgers, Utah Jazz, LA Chargers and Buffalo Bills, as it looked to expand its sports investing footprint.

🤝 Wrexham AFC sold a minority stake to U.S.-based private equity firm Apollo Sports Capital for an undisclosed amount, reducing the ownership held by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

💰 Kalshi, a platform for betting on real-world events from elections to sports, raised $1 billion in a Series E round, reaching an $11 billion valuation, to accelerate adoption of its regulated prediction markets platform across the U.S.

💰 Track Titan, a London-based AI sim-racing startup founded by Max Teichert, raised $5 million in seed funding to develop its AI-powered driving coach for training the next generation of racing drivers.

💰 GameChanger Analytics raised $3.25 million ahead of the public launch of its multi-sensor performance wearable designed for AI-driven movement analysis and hydration tracking.

💰 Runtrip, operator of the running app Runtrip, raised $1.3 million (¥190 million) through a third-party allotment of shares to make a full-scale entry into the healthcare sector, with investors including Paramount Bed Healthcare Fund.

💰 TIDA Sports raised $360,000 (₹3 crore) in seed funding led by Inflection Point Ventures to expand operations, accelerate product development, hire talent and increase marketing efforts.

💰 Saturn Sports, a Cincinnati-based football technology startup, won a $200,000 Ohio Third Frontier grant to develop a smart chin strap that visually indicates whether football helmets are properly secured.

💰 EPIX Sports raised an undisclosed amount, bringing its total funding close to €7 million, to continue scaling its sports technology platform.

💰 GameAbove Sports announced a strategic investment in PLATFORM Golf for an undisclosed amount to advance verified, gamified off-course golf play through technology-enabled scoring and competition.

💸 Cristiano Ronaldo invested in Perplexity AI for an undisclosed amount, marking his most high-profile tech investment to date alongside a strategic partnership with the AI search company.

💸 Bret Taylor, chairman of OpenAI, acquired a minority stake in the San Francisco 49ers for an undisclosed amount, joining a growing group of technology executives investing in NFL franchises.

🤝 Netflix agreed to acquire Warner Bros. following the separation of Discovery Global in a transaction valuing the combined business at $82.7 billion enterprise value, including $72 billion in equity value.

💸 Mookie Betts invested in Home Run Dugout for an undisclosed amount, joining as brand ambassador and chair of its Athlete Advisory Board as the company planned expansion to Nashville, Los Angeles and Boston.

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