Celtics and Serie A club AS Roma investor James Pallotta “is investing in Spartan Race Inc., which runs a new breed of obstacle-race events that involve climbing walls, slogging through mud, and crawling under barbed wire,” according to Beth Healy of the BOSTON GLOBE. The investment by Pallotta's Raptor Capital Management is being made “through a Raptor venture capital fund that backs start-ups.” This is the fund’s “third deal, all in the $2 million to $10 million range.” Spartan Race was founded in ’10 by Joe DeSena, and the company now has about “50 employees and 40 events a year with names like Beast and the Death Race.” The entry level event is the Spartan Sprint, a three-mile event featuring "some 15 hard-core obstacles (including human battering rams).” Spartan Race makes money “primarily from entry fees of $100 to $150 per event, amounts that about 350,000 racers will pay this year to compete, as well as from sponsorships.” A Spartan Sprint event is scheduled for Nov. 17-18 at Fenway Park. DeSena will move the Spartan Race HQs “to Boston from Pittsfield, Vt.,” and Raptor Consumer Partners Managing Dir John Burns will “join the board.” In addition to the “hedge fund and venture fund, Raptor has a sports management business that includes Pallotta” (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/20).
