#178 💰 Another Week, Another Two Sports Funds

Powering Innovation & Investment Insights in Sports. Every Week.

Another week, this time its two new sports funds. InStudio Ventures launched their $50 million fund anchored by stakes in the Bills and Chargers. While former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli launched Gamma Waves Partners targeting sports IP and tech.

April's monthly roundup shows $819 million in sports tech funding across 16 deals, with Stats Perform's $750 million haul doing most of the heavy lifting. Full breakdown below.

Plus, the NBA is fielding $10B expansion bids from Las Vegas and Seattle, Brighton announced Europe's first purpose-built women's football stadium, and Man City launched a VR fan experience.

💡 INTELLIGENCE HUB

SPORTS TECH INVESTMENT MONTHLY ROUND UP

April 2026 continued the strong momentum from March, with funding reaching $819.4M across 16 deals, while no M&A values were disclosed despite a few transactions taking place. The month was heavily driven by two large rounds from a single company (Stats Perform), skewing both sector and geographic distribution.

Here’s a quick summary:

• Geography:
  Funding was overwhelmingly concentrated in the USA, which accounted for $752.8M (92.3%) of total capital raised. The remaining activity was split across China ($28.0M, 3.4%), India ($23.6M, 2.9%), and Germany ($11.0M, 1.3%).
  On the M&A side, both deals were US-linked, making North America 100% of activity by count.

• Sectors:
  Funding was almost entirely driven by ‘For Athletes’, which captured $782.8M (95.5%) of total funding. ‘For Fans’ accounted for $23.6M (2.9%), while ‘For Executives’ made up just $13.0M (1.6%).
  M&A activity was split evenly between ‘For Athletes’ (50%) and ‘For Executives’ (50%).

• Top Deals:

  Stats Perform raised $475M in debt financing and an additional $275M funding round, accounting for the majority of April’s dealflow.

  On the M&A side, ViewLift was acquired by DAZN, and Sportsbox AI was acquired by Bryson DeChambeau, with both deal values undisclosed.

See a more detailed breakdown on the Intelligence Hub and the Global Sports Tech Ecosystem Report.

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📰 THE LATEST

Top News From The World Of Sports Tech & Biz

⚽ Manchester City launched City Space, an official VR experience built on the Xtadium platform in partnership with YBVR to deliver immersive fan engagement.

⚽ Major League Soccer selected five AI companies for its third Innovation Lab cohort to advance player performance, fan engagement, and media technology.

💸 Monshaat launched a 24-week sports innovation incubator program to support entrepreneurship across sports and connected technologies in Saudi Arabia.

🏓 Researchers developed a table tennis robot called Ace capable of competing with elite players, highlighting advancements in robotics and sports technology.

📺 Gray Media and RAJ Sports launched Rose City SportsNet, a new Portland-based regional network focused on women’s sports programming.

🏀 Meta introduced Live Chats on Threads to enable real-time public group conversations around major cultural events including the NBA Playoffs and Finals.

📺 The NFL and Skydance Sports formed a new studio partnership to develop sports content as part of their broader media collaboration.

⛳ Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund planned to withdraw funding for LIV Golf after the 2026 season following years of multi-billion dollar investment in the circuit.

⚽ Brighton & Hove Albion announced plans to build Europe’s first purpose-built women’s soccer stadium, joining two existing venues in the United States, with an estimated cost of £75–80 million.

🏀 The NBA received interest from multiple investor groups for potential expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle, which the league planned to sell for up to $10 billion.

🏟️ The Canadian federal government pledged $660 million over five years to national sport organizations to address participation and funding challenges.

🏅 Magpies Sporting Club launched a Community Grants program to fund athletes and community organizations across men’s sport, women’s sport, and development initiatives in Mackay, Australia.

💸 InStudio Ventures launched a $50 million sports investing fund anchored by small stakes in the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers to target sports technology startups.

💸 Former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, former ⁠Juventus player Giorgio Chiellini, ​and Rocco Benetton, heir of the Italian family ​behind the global fashion brand, came together to launch new fund Gamma ‌Waves Partners to invest in sports-related intellectual property and technology.

💸 EquiDeFi launched a platform allowing fans to invest in emerging sports leagues, starting with Gamebred Fighting Championship, through a private investment model.

💸 Domain Capital Group launched a Sports Credit Strategy and closed a new separately managed account focused on receivables tied to European football player transfers and media rights.

💸 UCF approved the creation of an Athletics Strategic Investment Fund to support one-time initiatives and adapt to the evolving financial landscape of college sports.

💰 Metasports Interactive, a mobile gaming company, raised $20 million in user acquisition funding from London-based growth financing firm Metica to scale marketing efforts and expand its multiplayer cricket game Hitwicket globally.

💰 SportVot, an India-based sports-tech platform, raised $3.9 million (Rs 32.7 crore) in a funding round led by IAN Alpha Fund to drive international expansion and enhance its AI-led sports production and distribution platform that streams over 500,000 matches globally.

💰 Ohio State student Eric Ishekwene secured $50,000 in startup funding through the President’s Buckeye Accelerator to develop his sports-tech venture.

💰 Teamworks secured a significant growth investment led by Hg to accelerate its AI and data strategy across elite sports organizations.

📺 Warner Bros Discovery shareholders approved a proposed $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance, pending regulatory approval and potential legal challenges.

💸 Thrive Capital acquired a minority stake in the San Francisco Giants through its new holding company Thrive Eternal to expand into professional sports ownership.

🤝 BSN Sports acquired Sports Endeavors and Lax.com for an undisclosed amount to expand its presence in sports apparel, equipment, and direct-to-consumer retail.

🤝 HOK acquired Detroit-based architecture firm Rossetti, known for its sports venue design and renovation work, for an undisclosed amount to strengthen its global sports architecture portfolio.

💸 Big 12 Conference secured a private capital deal to add at least $12.5 million to the conference, with an optional $30 million per school, without granting ownership or governance stakes.

🏟️ TD Garden announced a $100 million multi-year redevelopment investment plan to transform its premium hospitality offerings, including upgrades to the Society Suite experience and event-level clubs.

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