Bruin Sports Capital, a media, sports, marketing and branded lifestyle venture launched in 2015 by George Pyne, communication services company WPP, and Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Rock Ventures, Quicken Loans and majority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, have teamed up to create a $35m early-stage venture capital fund focusing on innovative sports and media technology companies.
Courtside Ventures will focus on investing in innovative technology startups across sports and media that have the potential for broader applicability across other markets.
The fund will leverage the expertise of its team of sports, digital and marketing executives:
– George Pyne, who will serve as Non-Executive chairman, is founder and CEO of Bruin Sports Capital,
– Deepen Parikh, venture partner at Interplay Ventures and co-founder of NYVC Sports,
– Vasu Kulkarni, founder and CEO of sports analytics company Krossover and an experienced entrepreneur and investor, and
– Brian Hermelin, Managing Partner and cofounder of Rockbridge Growth Equity and Detroit Venture Partners, two investment arms within Gilbert’s portfolio of companies.
Courtside Ventures’ Advisory Board will include sports media entrepreneur Brian Bedol, founder and CEO of Bedrocket Media Ventures, and founder of Classic Sports Network (now ESPN Classic) and College Sports Network (now CBS Sports Network), and veteran sports media executive Doug Perlman, founder and CEO of Sports Media Advisors, and former head of the media divisions at IMG and the National Hockey League.
The company will have operations in Detroit and New York City.
FinSMEs
11/01/2016