Backed by a "virtual Who’s Who of the sports business," including Man City owner City Football Group, Bay Area venture capital firm Sapphire Ventures has amassed a $115M fund called Sapphire Sport that is devoted to investing in technology startups, according to Eric Fisher of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The new fund combines resources from many of the sports industry’s most powerful team owners and brands as well as every major North American sport. Investments will range across the sports, media and entertainment industries, and the fund's nine-figure size makes it an "immediate player in the space." Five companies have become the initial members of the portfolio: Fevo, Mycujoo, Overtime, Phoenix Labs and Tonal. Though Sapphire will be competing in a "crowded space" of venture capital firms, it will "veer sharply away" from many other sports investment vehicles that are tied to a specific player, team, league or union. Sapphire Sport's powerful roster of limited partners includes adidas; Anschutz Entertainment Group; CFG; MLB; and WISE, the family investment fund run by NFL Minnesota Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf, among others. Sapphire Ventures MD Michael Spirito said, "Nobody has put together these types of partners like this toward a single goal. Sports remains a massive addressable market with a lot of change and innovation happening, almost in real time, and we intend to make a sizable impact upon the market." Spirito will co-lead the fund along with Sapphire Ventures Co-Founder Doug Higgins. They will be based in the Bay Area, and both have extensive histories in investing in technology startups. Higgins' background includes a stint working in business development for famed production company Lucasfilm. Spirito joined the firm last fall after a lengthy run in business development and digital media with 21st Century Fox and the YES Network. CFG joined Sapphire Sport first as the "anchor investor" and will also serve as the head of the fund's advisory group. In addition to representing an attractive investment vehicle for startups, CFG CEO Ferran Soriano said that Sapphire Sport will help expand his own group's entrepreneurial desires. Soriano said, "This provides the opportunity for a closer perspective of emerging technology and allows us to be ahead of our competitors" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/28 issue).
