Sapphire Sport spins out, rebrands as 359 Capital with $300M AUM

Nearly 7 years aft announcing its first fund, Sapphire Sport—the task money focused connected sports, media, and entertainment—is spinning retired from Sapphire Ventures. The money volition rebrand arsenic an autarkic task firm, 359 Capital.

The firm’s caller sanction is simply a tribute to the sub-four-minute mile, a feat erstwhile deemed humanly intolerable but yet achieved done rigorous dedication and perseverance. Spirito said that the sanction reflects the firm’s halfway rule of helping its portfolio founders execute the impossible.

The separation from Sapphire Ventures, an concern steadfast with astir $11 cardinal successful assets nether management, was ever connected “the imaginativeness board,” said Michael Spirito, managing spouse and co-founder of 359 Capital. “We’re each grown up and acceptable to permission home.”

Sapphire Sport, which is presently halfway done investing its 2nd money of $181 million, has ever maintained a abstracted radical of constricted partners from Sapphire Ventures. Its LPs are each profoundly tied to the sports industry, including large names similar City Football Group, adidas, AEG, Madison Square Garden, Sinclair, and dozens of squad owners.

“When we started successful 2019, the sanction Sapphire Sport wasn’t conscionable alliterative and sounded cool,” Spirito said. “Sport captured the LP group.”

Seven years later, the sports-focused LPs inactive leverage their narration with the steadfast to summation insights into emerging tech companies crossed the media and sports landscape, Spirito said.

Some of the startups 359 Capital has backed see Beehiiv, a creator-focused newsletter; an online casino; Betty Labs, a sports media platform; Overtime, an AI hunt engine; Perplexity, a palmy AI browser; and Tonal, a location gym system.

The firm’s full portfolio of 30 companies and each of its concern unit volition determination implicit to 359 Capital. The transitioning unit includes Spirito, co-founders of Sapphire Ventures, David Hartwig and Doug Higgins, and recently promoted spouse Rico Mallozzi.

As 359 Capital, the steadfast volition proceed to absorption chiefly connected Series A and Series B startups, penning checks betwixt $2 cardinal to $10 million. The steadfast volition proceed to put from its 2nd money done the archetypal fractional of 2027, Spirito said.

359 Capital volition person high-profile contention successful the satellite of sports-focused task capital.  Courtside Ventures, backed by Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan, is successful the process of raising a 4th money of $100 million, according to an SEC filing.