AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 17, 2024 — Established seed-stage fund, Tuesday Capital, has announced the addition of Ethan Imboden, a long time collaborator, as a Partner. Imboden joins the team following 10 years at global design & strategy consulting firm, frog, where he founded and led the venture practice and investment arm. Tuesday Capital, known for its early-stage investments in over 350 groundbreaking startups, including  Airtable, Gitlab, Cruise, Zipline, Human Interest, Solugen, Oklo, Kueski, and Digital Ocean, has been backing founders at the inception of their companies since 2011. A San Francisco Bay Area native now based in France, Ethan will invest globally while also anchoring the firm’s new presence in Europe.

“At Tuesday, we operate as a startup that backs other startups. Ethan spent a decade as a VC-backed founder followed by a decade of supporting and investing behind founders, so his experience matches the Tuesday ethos perfectly. He and I have already been working together for over 7 years and he has helped many of our portfolio companies over that time,” said Patrick Gallagher, Cofounder and Managing Partner of Tuesday Capital. “Our success as a firm hinges on providing timely, tangible value to founders, helping them build their businesses from the outset. Ethan’s background in design, engineering and entrepreneurship augments what Tuesday can deliver to our portfolio companies.”

“Tuesday Capital has pressure-tested and honed its strategy across five funds and nearly fifteen years, while consistently delivering for both founders and investors,” said Ethan Imboden, Partner at Tuesday Capital. “With their continuous focus on outcomes rather than optics, Pat and his team have built a firm that’s efficient, independently-minded, and complementary to the entire early-stage technology ecosystem. This approach has always resonated with me, and I’m excited to officially join the team.”

Tuesday Capital joins founders at the start of their journey, collaborating with them through the earliest steps of getting their startups off the ground. The firm is known for bringing its extensive network and company-building support alongside its capital, earning a reputation in the venture ecosystem for rolling up its sleeves with portfolio companies while being complementary and additive to co-investors. The approach is paying off in fund performance and founder engagement – the team is now investing from their fifth fund where returning founders make up more than a third of the new companies being backed.

About Tuesday Capital
Tuesday Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that has backed over 350 startups since launching in 2011. With five funds totaling approximately $150M under management, we have a proven track record of identifying and supporting exceptional founders at the earliest stages of building their companies. The value we bring to the venture ecosystem yields a differentiated deal flow, stemming from our network of 700+ founders and our longstanding and complementary relationships with fellow VCs.

We’re a small, close-knit, independently-minded team, focused on building long-term value. We operate as a startup-that-funds-other-startups, running an efficient, right-sized organization and continually evolving our market approach for both founder fit & LP performance. Our firm thrives on curiosity, integrity, diversity, taking the long view and having the courage and foresight to be the first in.  To learn more visit www.tuesday.vc.

Media Contact:
Gabby Champion
208-391-2997
[email protected]

SOURCE Tuesday Capital

• BYOC is a new deployment model where software companies can create a SaaS-like experience in a customer’s cloud account
• AI, data sovereignty regulations and enterprise security requirements are driving B2B software providers to offer the BYOC deployment model
• Previously only for the most technical teams, now anyone can offer BYOC with Nuon in minutes to unlock new customers, revenue and integrate more deeply with customer LLMs and data.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 17, 2024 — Nuon Inc. today announced $16.5 million in funding and the early access release of its Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) platform. Nuon enables software companies to deliver SaaS-like experiences directly in customers’ cloud accounts—combining the compliance and security of self-hosted solutions with the ease of vendor-hosted software. By meeting demands for data sovereignty, security and compliance, Nuon allows SaaS providers to expand into new customer segments, enhance product capabilities while generating additional revenue streams.

“In today’s enterprise software landscape, every company must answer the inevitable customer question: ‘Can this run in our cloud account?,” said Nuon Founder and CEO Jon Morehouse. “Nuon enables any company to offer the BYOC deployment model in minutes, unlocking new customers, meeting data sovereignty requirements, and more deeply integrating with customer data and LLMs.”

The BYOC Opportunity and Nuon’s Vision

Much of what we know about cloud software today stems from the early consumer cloud pioneers like Facebook, Google and Netflix. However, modern business-to-business (B2B) software faces different challenges. Traditional SaaS deployments often require lengthy integrations and force customers to send their data to developer-controlled cloud accounts, resulting in higher costs, reduced security and inefficiency. Nuon overcomes these issues by enabling software to move to the customer’s cloud environment instead of requiring data to move to the developer’s infrastructure. This approach blends the ease of SaaS with the control, compliance, and security enterprises demand.

Jon Morehouse is a serial entrepreneur and infrastructure expert with over a decade of experience building and scaling cloud technologies, including at companies like Amazon and BuzzFeed. He founded Nuon, his fourth startup, in late 2021 when he was working on a developer-centric cloud platform and saw a larger opportunity: running software in the customer’s cloud. Companies like Databricks, Redpanda and Retool were already experimenting with different approaches to deploying their applications, and Jon realized the BYOC model wasn’t just the best approach for deploying critical applications—it would eventually become essential for almost every company. Conversations with founders confirmed this insight: many recognized the need for BYOC but were held back by its technical complexity.

Nuon’s mission is to make the Bring Your Own Cloud model accessible to software companies everywhere. This shift has the potential to transform software delivery, reshaping development, operations, data handling, and infrastructure. The rise of AI further accelerates the need for this model, making it a pivotal moment for the software industry.

“When we set out to build Nuon, we knew that making a generalizable platform to offer BYOC was an enormous investment, and we had to approach BYOC from first principles while making it seamless for existing companies to offer it alongside their current SaaS offering,” said Morehouse. “Our platform includes a control plane for managing customer installs, as well as APIs, SDKs and a CI/CD system for adding custom monitoring and debugging for day-2 operations.

Funding and Future Plans

Nuon has raised $16.5 million in funding from venture capital firms, M12 (James Wu),  Uncork Capital (Andy McLoughlin),  Redpoint Ventures (Pat Chase), Alumni Ventures (Meera Oak), Essence VC (Timothy Chen), Mantis VC (Alex Pall), Red Swan Ventures (Sandy Cass) and angel investors Quinn Slack (CEO of SourceGraph), Richie Artoul (co-founder of WarpStream, acquired by Confluent) and Michael Grinich (CEO of WorkOS). This capital will fuel product development,  prepare for general availability in early 2025, and drive customer acquisition.

“Uncork Capital led Nuon’s seed funding round and participated in its Series A because we believe Jon’s vision that BYOC will fundamentally disrupt software deployment and become an industry standard,” said Andy McLoughlin, managing partner at Uncork Capital and a Nuon board member. “Nuon is poised to lead this shift and build a generational infrastructure company that rivals today’s hyper-scalers.”

Nuon is currently powering a few dozen AI and data infrastructure companies already using the platform to deliver BYOC solutions. The company plans to launch general availability by late Q1 2025.

About Nuon

Nuon Inc. is a venture-backed software company revolutionizing how AI, data, and business-critical infrastructure software are deployed with Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC). Nuon enables SaaS providers to offer BYOC in minutes, dramatically simplifying software management in customer cloud environments, accelerating acquisition, expanding product offerings, and unlocking new revenue streams. For more information, visit nuon.co and follow LinkedIn and X.

Media Contact:
Michael Celiceo at Code PR, [email protected]

SOURCE Nuon

Pioneering Approach Brings Insights from Neuronal Response to Identifying Personalized Drug Efficacy for Depression 

KEARNY, N.J., Dec. 17, 2024 — NeuroKaire, a pioneering biotechnology company specializing in precision medicine in psychiatry and neurology, has successfully secured $10 million in funding to advance development of its clinical test which helps identify drug efficacy for depression patients. The funding will help the company scale operations and further expand pharmaceutical partnerships. GreyBird Ventures led the round and the company’s other investors include Meron Capital and Jumpspeed Ventures, among others.

Based on a simple blood draw, NeuroKaire can provide a new view into brain function, including drug response insights that are based on the combined neurobiology and clinical context of individual patients. This innovative test can help clinicians identify the optimal antidepressant based on the unique response of the patient’s brain cells. The test includes the first-ever readout of antidepressant effects from each patient’s derived neurons, clinical data, as well as a pharmacogenetic screening covering 132 drugs.

“NeuroKaire has the potential to improve outcomes for depression patients,” noted Maurizio Fava, MD, Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Womens Hospital Harvard Medical School, Psychiatrist in Chief Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, and an internationally recognized clinician, researcher, and teacher in psychiatry. “The company’s neuronal readout may represent the next generation of screening to help clinicians efficiently identify potential drug efficacy for their patients.”

“This funding will help us scale operations, expand our team, and deepen research and development efforts,” said founder and CEO Talia Cohen Solal. “Our test represents a major leap forward in the available tools that enable doctors to practice precision medicine in mental health. The investment will also support NeuroKaire in expanding its network of pharmaceutical partnerships currently focused on multiple psychiatric and neurological diseases. These collaborations are driving continued innovation in drug discovery and development and help ensure that new medications reach the right patients as quickly as possible.”

“We are proud to support NeuroKaire in their mission to advance precision medicine in psychiatry and neurology through groundbreaking technologies,” added Scott Gazelle, Managing Partner of GreyBird Ventures. “NeuroKaire has the potential to transform treatment paradigms in depression. We are excited to help bring the company’s innovative test to the clinic for treatment optimization and to see it used to improve the efficiency of new drug development.”

For more information about NeuroKaire visit www.neurokaire.com

About NeuroKaire: 

NeuroKaire is developing personalized medicine solutions to optimize treatment for psychiatric and neurological diseases. The company’s proprietary and innovative technology helps physicians find the best treatment for their patients. NeuroKaire uses its unique neuronal readout technology to rapidly test approved antidepressants and drug combinations against an individual patient’s unique neurological biomarkers. Combined with patients’ genetic and medical history, NeuroKaire can improve selection of the optimal drug therapy for each patient. This opens the door to faster treatment, fewer side effects, and lower dosing, and the elimination of arduous trial-and-error treatment protocols and needless loss of life. NeuroKaire also enables pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to bring precision medicine into drug development throughout the developmental pipeline across psychiatry and neurology. To learn more, follow us on LinkedIn or on X @NeuroKaire.

Media Contact:
Catherine Afarian 
[email protected]
408.656.8872

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2581575/NeuroKaire_Logo.jpg

SOURCE NeuroKaire

AI-Powered Bridge Lending Platform Paves the Way For Scalable Bridge Financing

NEW YORK, Dec. 17, 2024 —  Atlas Invest, the premier bridge loan company,  announced today the successful closing of an $11M funding round. Combining decades of real estate legacy and financial expertise with advanced AI, Atlas serves real estate developers seeking efficient financing solutions as well as private and institutional investors looking to invest in US real estate debt. This round, led by The Garage with participation from State of Mind Ventures, Anfield, Guy Gamzu, and other previous investors, will fuel Atlas’s expansion, further strengthening its position leading the real estate-backed debt market.

The $10 trillion bridge loan market is ripe for innovation. As banks and large institutions further tighten lending criteria, demand for bridge financing continues to grow. Real estate developers need straightforward, efficient financing solutions. However, traditional methods often lead to slow processes and limited flexibility, causing costly delays and missed opportunities. At the same time, investors are seeking dependable alternative investments that align with their risk-return goals. Atlas provides investors exclusive access to high-quality real estate debt in what is widely regarded as the “holy grail” asset class, offering strong returns, low risk, and tangible security.  

By combining proprietary technology with institutional-grade underwriting and end-to-end portfolio management, Atlas has set a new standard in real estate debt investment, enhancing returns and reducing risk for investors. Their proprietary AI-powered technology supports precise underwriting and seamless loan processing, adding layers of risk management to an already stable asset class. Atlas’ ability to instantly analyze thousands of critical data points empowers their underwriting experts to make precise, efficient decisions. This same data-driven approach supports continuous monitoring of active loans, ensuring they are closely managed at all times. Atlas’s unique approach minimizes borrower input and simplifies each step, creating a streamlined, risk-mitigated process that empowers Atlas to originate billions of dollars in loans each year.

As lead investor, The Garage recognizes Atlas Invest’s potential to redefine the bridge lending landscape. Shay Dan, Managing Partner of The Garage, stated “We’re excited to partner with Atlas Invest as they transform bridge lending with their unique blend of AI and industry expertise. Their scalable model addresses the growing need for reliable, efficient financing solutions. We are committed to supporting Atlas in their journey to expand access and reach unprecedented levels.”

“Partnering with strategic investors with institutional roots will support us in scaling operations and establishing Atlas as the central hub for real estate-backed debt,” said Tal Shahar, CEO of Atlas Invest. “This funding allows us to grow an ecosystem that puts investors and developers at the center, delivering an exceptional experience in real estate financing.”

About Atlas Invest

Atlas Invest is a technology-driven financial platform dedicated to revolutionizing bridge financing in real estate investment. Combining human expertise with advanced AI and proprietary technology, Atlas Invest streamlines the entire loan process for borrowers, brokers, and investors, unlocking billions in unrealized asset-backed debt potential.

Contact:

Hannah Carimi, Director of Marketing

Follow Atlas Invest

SOURCE Atlas Invest

HOUSTON, Dec. 17, 2024 — Stellus Capital Management, LLC (“Stellus”) announced today that its affiliates provided senior debt financing and an equity co-investment in support of Clarion Capital Partners’ (“Clarion”) acquisition of Arthur Murray International, Inc. (“Arthur Murray” or the “Company”), an international franchisor of dance studios.

Founded in 1912, Arthur Murray has 300 dance studios in two dozen countries across the world, establishing the Company as a cornerstone in dance education and franchise operations globally. Gary Edwards, a renowned world-ranked dancer with over four decades of experience within the dance industry, will lead the Company as CEO after serving as an ambassador for Arthur Murray for the last 20 years. Edwards succeeds Philip S. Masters as CEO.

“Clarion is honored to partner with Gary Edwards to continue the Arthur Murray legacy Phil Masters built,” said Eric Kogan, Partner at Clarion, adding, “We appreciate Stellus’ partnership throughout the transaction process and look forward to working together to support Arthur Murray’s continued success.”

Colin Baker, Managing Director at Stellus, added, “We are excited to partner with Clarion, Gary, and the rest of the Arthur Murray team. We look forward to supporting the next phase of growth under Clarion’s ownership.”

SOURCE Stellus Capital Management, LLC

SINGAPORE, Dec. 16, 2024 — As Bitcoin surpassed the $100,000 mark on December 5, 2024, this landmark year for the crypto industry is closing on a high note. It has also been a fruitful year for HTX Ventures, the global investment division of HTX, which supported a total of 28 leading crypto projects and funds, continually exploring new frontiers of crypto utility. Recently, HTX Ventures released its 2024 Year In Review, highlighting this year’s key developments in the crypto industry and forecasting market trends for the upcoming year.

Within this report, HTX Ventures highlighted five key sectors that showed encouraging progress in 2024 – the Bitcoin Ecosystem, Infrastructure, Meme Coins, AI, and the TON Ecosystem – and will continue to closely monitor these areas in 2025.

Bitcoin Ecosystem

With Bitcoin dominance reaching 56.81% and Bitcoin spot ETFs now accounting for 5.3% of the total Bitcoin supply, a new market trend has emerged. Bitcoin has solidified its position as the core asset, with spot ETFs acting as liquidity channels, and U.S. listed companies such as MicroStrategy (MSTR) serving as the vehicles to absorb unlimited dollar liquidity.

As a result, it is increasingly essential to further develop Bitcoin‘s ecosystem and enhance capital utilization efficiency. It has driven infrastructure projects, including Layer 2s, execution layers, interoperability solutions and security layers, to continuously emerge.

With strong support from macro markets and infrastructure support, HTX Ventures anticipates a further surge in Bitcoin demand over the next two years.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure remained a cornerstone in this year’s crypto investments and funding. The synergy between capital and technology has driven the rapid development of Layer 1, Layer 2,  and middleware projects, among others.

Through ongoing upgrades and construction, the Ethereum ecosystem has improved Layer 2s’ performance and reduced network fees. Other Layer 1s, such as Solana and TRON, achieved active on-chain transactions, attributable to the development of meme coins, and infrastructure like Pump.fun and Sunpump. Layer 0 and cross-chain middleware have made breakthroughs in interoperability, expanding the multi-chain landscape. Modular public blockchains, like Celestia and Monad, offered exceptional performance and flexibility, thus attracting diverse applications. Restaking projects, which aim to enhance network security and capital efficiency, has seen speedy development and gained market attention. Bitcoin Layer 2 has emerged as a new focus in the primary market for its attempt to combine Bitcoin‘s security with high-performance scaling solutions.

As HTX Ventures stated, infrastructure is still imperative in this year’s crypto investments and funding. Layer 1 solutions, in particular, now represent the focal point of technical development and exploration within the crypto space, and it is expected to remain a priority for development resources and capital investment in the future.

Meme Coins

The Meme coin sector emerged as a hotspot in the crypto market in 2024, fostering community consensus while integrating with fields like DeFi and GameFi to create new use cases. For example, Solana has actively championed the innovation and growth of meme projects, successfully energizing its ecosystem. As the crypto market environment grows increasingly favorable, more retail investors are expected to enter the market, positioning Meme projects as vital channels for capital inflows.

The Meme coin fair launch sector has gained significant market attention and attracted substantial participants this year. Infrastructure projects such as Pump.fun and SunPump have emerged as top-performing cash flow generators, injecting fresh momentum into Meme coin development. As multi-chain ecosystems mature and real-world use cases expand, Meme coin infrastructure will continue injecting more vitality into this sector.

AI

In 2024, the intersection of Crypto and AI sector has been driving the exploration of several segmented fields such as ZK/OPML for enabling AI on-chain, AI data crowdsourcing, decentralized computing power rental, AI data trading, AI games, and AI agents.

One of the hottest segmented fields is AI agents, which are put on chains to take advantage of the token mechanism to incentivise and bootstrap certain behaviors with the agents, including interacting with smart contracts, trading and querying on behalf of users. In the future, AI agents will gradually become personal butlers and assistants for users, serving them with comprehensive capabilities, such as independent asset issuance, initiation of viral marketing campaigns, formation of DAOs, and even fund management and investment decision-making. Over time, they may develop unique cultures and religions. This deep integration of AI and encryption technology is a groundbreaking evolution that is unattainable within Web2 and cannot be achieved by Web3 relying solely on encryption technology.

TON Ecosystem

Attributable to Telegram’s hundreds of millions of users and robust technical support, the TON (The Open Network) ecosystem has progressively developed into a multi-layered blockchain ecosystem. In 2024, it experienced a full-scale boom in its ecosystem and market presence. From DeFi and meme coins to NFTs and gaming, TON leveraged its massive user base to achieve significant milestones in various fields, pioneering the monetization of Web2 social applications through crypto.

One standout success was the adoption of “tap-to-earn” games with token airdrop incentives, which effectively onboarded a large number of Web2 users. However, as the TON ecosystem moves into 2025, it must explore and find new business models to improve user retention and identify its next growth curve.

2025 Outlook

Donald Trump’s expected repeal of SAB 121 after his inauguration on January 20, 2025, would allow traditional financial institutions to hold crypto assets on their balance sheets, further accelerating the institutionalization of crypto assets. The repeal will not only open up more financing options for crypto but also make spot cryptos more accessible through existing institutional exchanges and partnerships.

At the same time, this regulatory easing is poised to enhance the overall maturity of the institutional crypto market. With the entry of traditional financial institutions, Bitcoin is anticipated to gain stronger support and gradually establish itself as a core dollar-denominated asset, alongside others tied to the dollar industry cycles, such as AI.

HTX Ventures points out that the market is still far from its bull market peak. Against the backdrop of Trump’s fiscal expansion policies and unprecedented crypto-friendly signals, a robust bull market is expected.

To learn more, please visit: https://square.htx.com/htx-ventures-2024-year-in-review/

About HTX Ventures

HTX Ventures, the global investment division of HTX, integrates investment, incubation, and research to identify the best and brightest teams worldwide. With more than a decade-long history as an industry pioneer, HTX Ventures excels at identifying cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models within the sector. To foster growth within the blockchain ecosystem, we provide comprehensive support to projects, including financing, resources, and strategic advice.

HTX Ventures currently backs over 300 projects spanning multiple blockchain sectors, with select high-quality initiatives already trading on the HTX exchange. Furthermore, as one of the most active Fund of Funds (“FOF”) investors, HTX Ventures invests in 30 top global funds and collaborates with leading blockchain funds such as Polychain, Dragonfly, Bankless, Gitcoin, Figment, Nomad, Animoca, and Hack VC to jointly build a blockchain ecosystem. Visit us here.
Feel free to contact us for investment and collaboration at [email protected]

Contact Details
Ruder Finn Asia
[email protected] 

SOURCE HTX Ventures

SILICON SLOPES, Utah, Dec. 16, 2024 — Chargezoom, a leading platform for AI-powered billing and integrated payments, announced today it has raised $11.5 million in Series A funding, led by Salt Lake City’s Kickstart Fund.

This funding marks Chargezoom’s official arrival on the Utah tech scene, setting the stage for the company to scale rapidly and efficiently with the support of Silicon Slopes’ top early-stage venture fund.

“We’re thrilled to be building Chargezoom right here in Utah,” said Matt Dubois, founder and CEO of Chargezoom. “Not only does this validate our vision and provide critical resources, we’re getting an unbeatable strategic partner in Alex Soffe and the team at Kickstart.”

This round is another key milestone in Chargezoom’s rapid growth. Previously, the company closed a $2 million Seed round in July 2021. This investment helped Chargezoom simplify accounts receivable for businesses that need more efficient, agile financial processes.

“Chargezoom is leveraging AI and machine learning to solve crucial needs in the payment space that we’re not seeing anywhere else,” said Alex Soffe of Kickstart. “We’re excited to support their mission to automate AR for growing businesses.”

Since its Seed funding, Chargezoom has grown by 3,972%, driven by its mission to simplify payments and accelerate cash flow for businesses across the U.S. This latest round of funding will fuel Chargezoom’s rapid expansion and bring new resources to its platform.

As Chargezoom enters this new phase, they have restructured their investor lineup to best align with their long-term vision and strategy. Accordingly, BIP Ventures has exited their position with Chargezoom.

Chargezoom is proud to welcome new investors Motley Fool Ventures, Early Light Ventures, Frazier VC and Adly alongside continued support from SaaS Venture Capital, Stout Street Capital, and Okapi Venture Capital. These partnerships underscore a continued belief in Chargezoom’s mission and its potential to redefine the accounts receivable category.

“We’re very excited to move forward with a team of investors that share our values and are fully committed to our mission of being the market leader in AR automation,” said Matt Dubois.

About Chargezoom
Chargezoom is transforming the way businesses handle accounts receivables. Powered by an extensive proprietary dataset and using cutting-edge AI and machine learning, Chargezoom makes invoicing, cash flow, and customer payments seamless and autonomous. No manual work. No wasted time. Just smarter, faster AR that drives financial health and frees businesses to focus on growth.

SOURCE Chargezoom

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 16, 2024 — LA-based Freedom Trail Capital has been named the Most Innovative Equity Investments Firm – North America in Wealth & Finance International’s 2024 Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards. This accolade reflects Freedom Trail’s commitment to reshaping the future of venture capital by investing in culturally influential mission-driven consumer brands.

Freedom Trail Capital is co-founded by Samyr Laine and Ayanna Alexander-Laine, both Olympians. With a portfolio centered around mission-oriented, celebrity-backed consumer brands, Freedom Trail Capital has seen a number of milestones across its portfolio companies. Some of which include:

“We are honored to be included in this list of notable firms. Our team is dedicated to investing in founders and brands that drive change and innovation,” said Samyr Laine, Managing Partner and GP of Freedom Trail Capital. “This award reinforces our mission to democratize access to venture capital and champion the next generation of trail-blazing, transformative consumer brands.”

For more information about Freedom Trail Capital and their portfolio of brand partners, please visit Samyr Laine and Freedom Trail Capital on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samyrlaine/ 

Media Contact:

LM on behalf of Freedom Trail Capital

[email protected] 

Olivia Ludington

New York, NY

(551) 795-5950

SOURCE Freedom Trail Capital

– Led by the Berman Family, the Strategic Investments Span Current and Former Professional Athletes, Cultural Icons, and Business Leaders, Including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Linda Henry, Avenue Sports Fund and Marc Lasry, Michael Phelps, Dawn Staley and JuJu Watkins –

MIAMI, Dec. 16, 2024 — Today, professional women’s basketball league Unrivaled announced the closure of its oversubscribed Series A investment round led by the Berman Family, securing $28 million in funding. This round includes investments from: 8-time NBA All-Star and NBA Champion Giannis Antetokounmpo and Build Your Legacy Ventures; Co-Owner/CEO of Boston Globe Media and Partner at Fenway Sports Group Linda Henry; Avenue Sports Fund and Marc Lasry; 23-Time Gold Medalist, World Champion, and Mental Health Advocate Michael Phelps and Nicole Phelps, President of Michael Phelps Foundation and Mental Health Advocate; 3-time NCAA Champion Head Coach for South Carolina Women’s Basketball Dawn Staley; Warner Bros. Discovery; Sophomore Guard at USC JuJu Watkins, among others.

Many of the industry titans and all-star group of investors that led its $7 million seed round contributed to Series A funding with additional leading institutional investors, sports icons, and business leaders. Both the seed and Series A rounds totaled $35 million for the new professional women’s basketball league ahead of its inaugural season. Accelerate Sports served as Unrivaled’s investment bank for the capital raise.

“As women’s sports continue to surge in popularity and impact, we’re inspired by the growing momentum around Unrivaled and grateful for the strong support from our investors,” said Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell. “Our players haven’t even taken the court yet and the foundation we are building with our partners unites unparalleled expertise, strategic insight, and an incredible product. Together, we’re setting the stage for Unrivaled for years to come.”

Unrivaled’s Series A Round also includes investment from:

• Amy Banse: Venture Partner, Mosaic, Board Member and Investor, and retired Comcast Corp Executive
• Black Economic Alliance Venture Fund
• Threadneedle Ventures
• Off-Court Ventures
• Richard ‘Rip’ Hamilton: Former NBA All-Star and Champion with the Detroit Pistons 
• Joe Ingles: 11-year NBA veteran and 5-time Olympian for the Australian Men’s National Team

“Based on Avenue Sports’ deep understanding of basketball globally, we believe Unrivaled is well-positioned to thrive in the larger sports ecosystem and we’re proud to back this exciting new league,” said Marc Lasry, Avenue Capital’s Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder. “Unrivaled is setting the standard through their innovative business model at a pivotal time in the growth trajectory of women’s sports.”

Unrivaled was first announced in 2023 by co-founders Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. In May 2024, the League announced an oversubscribed seed round with a star-powered group of investors, many of whom have committed additional investment into this round, including Alex Morgan and Trybe Ventures, Dan Benton, Carmelo Anthony, Geno Auriemma, Moira Forbes, Tyus & Tre Jones, Ashton Kutcher, Dan Rosensweig, John Skipper, Richard Sarnoff and Gary Vaynerchuk.

A league owned by players, every Unrivaled athlete participating in the inaugural season has equity and a vested interest in its success. In November, the League announced its six club rosters and full 2025 schedule. Unrivaled will tip off on January 17, 2025 on TNT Sports, with exclusive live game coverage on TNT and truTV, and all games streamed on Max. Follow unrivaled.basketball and @UnrivaledBasketball for full list of athletes, news and announcements.

Media Contacts:
Melanie Van Dusen, Berk Communications (Unrivaled) – [email protected]
Tish Carmona, Unrivaled – [email protected]

About Unrivaled:
Unrivaled is a professional women’s basketball league innovating the women’s professional sports landscape with a groundbreaking model centered on investing in its athletes. Co-Founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, Unrivaled is player-owned, providing participating players equity opportunities for a vested interest in the league’s success. Launching in January 2025, Unrivaled will feature the current top women’s basketball stars in the world across six teams for a 3-on-3, compressed full court style of play. To learn more, visit unrivaled.basketball or contact [email protected].

SOURCE Unrivaled