Emerging Markets: Investment Opportunities in New Sports Leagues

Wednesday, July 16 | 12:30 PM ET

Emerging Markets: Investment Opportunities in New Sports Leagues

What we will cover:

• The emergence of new sports leagues across the U.S. and the world
• Where investors are putting money into new sports leagues and why
• Investor expectations and realities when investing in new sports leagues
• Predictions on future growth opportunities for recently founded leagues and those that may be on the horizon

Who should attend:

• Founders of emerging sports leagues or those working for emerging sports properties
• Investors looking to understand the opportunities for investment in emerging sports leagues
• Professional service providers looking to work with emerging sports leagues and investors
• Technology providers and other vendors looking to work with emerging sports leagues
• Anyone else interested in learning more about the growth of emerging sports leagues and properties

Featured Speakers (Additional to be Announced)

Kai Bond is a Partner at Courtside Ventures, the leading early stage venture capital firm investing globally in sports, gaming, and lifestyle.

Kai has two decades of experience working across VC funds, Fortune 100 enterprises and early-stage startups. Most recently, he was an Investor at Comcast Ventures, leading the gaming investments for their flagship fund and also ran their Catalyst Fund.

Kai is a 3x founder with deep expertise in gaming and interactive media. He was co-founder of SwitchGames, a dedicated marketplace for video games. His second startup was incubated at Hatch Labs, where he held the dual role of General Manager for Hatch and was CEO of CashPlay Games. CashPlay was a gaming platform that matched chance-based games to a sweepstakes engine where users could win cash prizes. Hatch Labs was responsible for launching 6 mobile startups in gaming and media, including Tinder. His third startup, pixietv, was an interactive streaming platform that delivered custom sports content overlays to Smart TVs. pixietv was acquired by Samsung in 2014 where he then led the successful global product launch of pixie on 40M Samsung Smart TVs. After a successful global launch, Kai transitioned to running the global accelerator program for Samsung NEXT, the Samsung Global Innovation Lab. Prior to launching several startups, Kai has held product roles at Microsoft in mobile and gaming, corporate development at IAC and was an early member of the team at Gerson Lehrman Group.

Kai is a graduate of Wesleyan University. He lives in Brooklyn, NY and in his spare time, Kai can be found playing soccer with his son, Miles, or experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen or on the grill.

Rachel Fleitell has nearly 20 years of experience in strategy, finance, operations and investing within the sports and entertainment ecosystem. She is currently COO of 35V, Kevin Durant's family office, and Boardroom, the sports media platform co-founded by Kevin Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman, where she oversees strategy, finance, operations and private investments. Prior to 35V, Rachel was VP of Business Operations at Endeavor where she worked across a number of high priority projects including the integration of IMG and IMG College, launch of new events division, and new business development for talent at WME. She was a varsity softball player at Brown, received her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and currently resides in New York with her husband and two young children.

Paul Hourigan is a Partner at Ryan Sports Ventures, the sports investment arm of the Chicago-based Ryan family. For over thirty years, the Ryan family has built a broad sports portfolio including interests in the Chicago Bears, Penske Corporation, and several leading sports technology funds. Since joining, Paul and the Ryan Sports team have made investments across three verticals: sports properties (including a soccer multi-club organization featuring a premier League team as well as Shawn White’s new snowboarding and skiing league), sports tech (focusing specifically on high performance and fan engagement) and sports content and media.

Prior to joining Ryan Sports, Paul served as CEO of Global Rugby Ventures (GRV), an investment vehicle that held interests in several professional rugby teams while also helping secure funding for teams and leagues across the rugby ecosystem in North America. Before GRV, Paul led the marketing efforts for the Coca-Cola Company's national sports marketing platforms, overseeing each of the largest US sports marketing initiatives for the beverage giant, including soccer, motorsports, and golf. During his tenure at Coca-Cola, Paul negotiated rights fees, media, and activation commitments for the majority of the company’s largest sponsorship deals including the PGA Tour, US Soccer/MLS/USMNT, and the first ever joint NASCAR/ISC sponsorship. Prior to joining the Coca-Cola Company, Paul was co-founder of an NFLPA-licensed digital media platform that included more than 100 professional athletes, a company he launched in partnership with Chris Cooley, the former Washington Commanders Pro Bowl tight end.

A native of the United Kingdom, Paul graduated from Washington and Lee University, where he played varsity soccer and ran track. He received a JD/MBA from Emory University, where he has served as a guest lecturer. Paul lives in Los Angeles with his wife Hannah and their two children.

Isaiah Kacyvenski's diverse background includes earning two degrees from Harvard, playing in the National Football League for 8 years between, and achieving success as an experienced entrepreneur and investor.

Mr. Kacyvenski is currently a Founder and Managing Partner at Will Ventures, a venture capital investment fund focused on sports and the massive, adjacent market opportunities that it opens across primarily consumer, entertainment, health and media.

Isaiah is also a Founder of the Sports Innovation Lab, a leading market research and advisory firm delivering insights on intersection of sports and technology. The Sports Innovation Lab evaluates and identifies the technology products and services that will power the future of sports. The Boston-based, market research and advisory firm uses data analysis to reveal compelling stories that mobilize global partnerships among startups, investment capital firms, and corporate influencers

Isaiah serves as a Fellow at the Harvard Innovation Lab and is also the Chairman of the Sports Advisory Board for the Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics at Northwestern University. Isaiah serves on the Executive Board of the USC Center for Body Computing as well as the National Advisory Board for the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). Isaiah is also a member of the NFLPA Health and Safety Committee, where he has served for over 10 years.

Isaiah was also the subject of an NFL Films profile about his rise from poverty to the NFL that received an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Long Feature.

He was also a featured guest on the Oprah Winfrey show titled "Why They Beat the Odds".

Isaiah holds a Cum Laude Pre-Medicine Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Registration is free. All registrants will receive a recording of the webinar following the event.

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