Ted Leonsis, the business mogul that owns and operates Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), quietly announced his intentions for a $10 million venture capital fund for the purposes of investing in sports and entertainment tech startups.
MSE owns three Washington D.C. sports teams—the Mystics of the WNBA, the Capitals of NHL and the Wizards of the NBA. But, Leonsis has his hands in a number of different ventures, both sports related and non-sports related.
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He is the cofounder of another venture capital fund—Revolution Growth Fund II, which heavily invested in Sportradar, a sports data platform, among myriad other companies. Leonsis has also personally invested in Kiswe, a video media tech company that has worked with MSE on revolutionizing broadcasting.
This new fund will join a host of other venture capital funds and accelerators in the increasingly competitive world of sports tech startups. Most recently, the Sacramento Kings released the details of a venture capital contest that they are taking part in. The contest is for any local tech startup, and interestingly, the fans will choose the finalists.
Famous sports agent Leigh Steinberg has partnered with private equity firm Alpha Strategies for a $50 million sports and entertainment venture capital arm. Around the same time, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert joined along with new sports, media and technology venture capital group Courtside Ventures, which pledged $35 million.
Perhaps the most famous of these was the Dodgers Accelerator, which just finished up their program of investing into 10 promising startups.
So, how will Leonsis’ venture capital fund fit into this mix? He will surely have to use some of the assets he has with the multiple different sports teams that the MSE runs, and the culture around Washington sports that he has a hold over.
Leonsis’ fund will need to do its research here. There seems to be a growing trend with these venture capital funds, and with $10 million at his disposal (less than many of these), Leonsis will need to sift through encouraging sports tech startups and find ones that can harmoniously integrate with MSE.