Athlete-investors are getting their portfolios started earlier in their career, and that’s good news for Houston’s sports technology scene.
The Collectiv — a Houston-based venture capital firm co-founded by Ashley DeWalt, managing director of DivInc Houston; Winston Gilpin, former CFO at Mercury; and Heath Butler, a partner at Mercury — recently added New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux as a partner investor.
The Collectiv aims to raise $20 million for its first fund, which is expected to close in six to nine months, DeWalt said. The firm is planning another close in about a month’s time.
The company’s debut investments include Sail G-P’s Team USA, AI chat platform On, video production company Videon, and Houston-based microbetting company nVenue.
Thibodeaux already has some sports technology investment under his belt, participating in a $20 million Series A round for Miami-based virtual reality company StatusPro earlier this year. He also has investments in real estate, beverage, hospitality and restaurant sectors.
But The Collectiv sees Thibodeaux as a different type of athlete-investor than established or retired athletes like former Golden State Warriors player Andre Iguodala, who is credited with advocating for sports technology investment in Silicon Valley.
Thibodeaux is 23 years old and only in his third season as a professional, and DeWalt said he could serve as a bridge to future players who are interested in investing earlier in their careers.
“It blew me away, because his mindset was so different from the typical athlete of that age,” DeWalt told the Houston Business Journal in an interview. “He was like, ‘I want to be involved; I don’t have an interest in just writing checks.’ It was really fascinating listening to his goals off the field.”
According to DeWalt, Thibodeaux’s interests in sports technology revolve around fan experience. For instance, StatusPro uses virtual reality to create playable simulations for training.
Houston companies that have secured funding for fan experience include Rivalry Tech, which allows fans to order meals to their seats through an app, and Lunchtable.ai, which rewards fans for engaging with social media content produced by professional teams.
DeWalt said that the firm was continuing to target not just early-career professional athletes but collegiate athletes as well. The rollout for name, image and likeness eligibility for college athletes opens windows of opportunity before their professional careers begin, but DeWalt said those athletes could still use guidance.
"It was really an alignment, when we talked about wanting to add value to the fund beyond just writing a check. He wanted to be in those meetings with startups, with investors, with potential investors, with executives,” DeWalt said. “It was really fascinating to hear someone at that age speak like that.”
Some local universities are also attempting to tap into the sports tech boom. Paul Cherukuri, chief innovation officer and vice president at Rice University, shared that some current university athletes are getting involved in technology projects of their own off the field.
"The nice thing about having a university that has excellent top-tier athletes and brilliant engineers working on stuff is, because they're a player, they can design it for players," Chirukuri said in a previous interview with the Houston Business Journal.
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