Philadelphia college athletics sponsorship startup NOCAP Sports raised a $2.5 million seed round to fuel its growth and hire.
NOCAP Sports built a platform that connects college athletes and universities with brands who want to use their name, image and likeness — or NIL — for sponsorship campaigns. The startup facilitates deals from start to finish, helping parties agree on contract terms and handling compliance paperwork.
Florida Funders, a venture capital firm based in Tampa, led the seed round. Also joining the round were Joseph Greco, co-owner of the Philadelphia Union; Richard Motzkin, vice president and managing partner of global soccer at sports marketing agency Wasserman, which also serves as NOCAP’s director of athlete relations; attorney Bakari Sellers and College Hunks Hauling Junk CEO Omar Soliman.
NOCAP will use the funding to hire two additional employees in sales, bringing its total headcount to 10, as well as to boost its marketing spend to better engage with athletes and increase brand awareness, NOCAP Founder and CEO Nicholas Lord said.
Lord is a Lancaster native who played Division III basketball at Gettysburg University. The 24-year-old started NOCAP after wrapping up his senior season in 2020 and rumors swirled about the possible approval for NIL deals for college athletes.
“This just happened to be the perfect opportunity because I love sports and I’ve played sports all my life,” Lord said. “I married the two ideas of entrepreneurship and sports and built a company around it."
The startup now has partnerships with 61 colleges and universities, including Villanova University, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Boise State University and the University of San Diego. It also works with athletes at several other Philadelphia-area schools, like Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, Lord said.
Major college athletes have already secured millions in NIL deals since the practice was legalized in July. Basketball players at the University of Kentucky scored 180 NIL deals totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead of its Wednesday tip-off against Duke University, The Athletic reported.
NOCAP works with college athletes from all sports and divisions, from Division I basketball players to D-III field hockey players. Every player has an influence, regardless of what college they play for or which division they play in, and should be able to build and monetize their brand, Lord said.
The company’s name stems from the millennial slang “no cap,” meaning that a person isn’t lying, but it also symbolizes that there’s no limit to how much athletes can earn from their NIL, he said.
NOCAP is free to use for athletes and schools, who get all of the money from their brand deals. The startup charges 15% of the total sponsorship deal. For example, if a brand were to sponsor an athlete for $100, the startup would charge an additional 15% for the total to come out to $115.
If a brand needs more help with their NIL deal, NOCAP also has a partnership with influencer marketing firm Inmar Intelligence to facilitate partnerships with larger brands who want to work with larger groups of student athletes, Lord said.
“That's mainly for the brands that are the Coca-Colas of the world and the Nikes of the world that want to sponsor hundreds of athletes at a time,” he said. “And we're just a small startup, so we don't have the ability to manage a campaign like that.”
The startup doesn’t plan to keep its home base in Philadelphia forever. Lord, who currently operates the company from his home in Northern Liberties, wants the company to relocate its headquarters to Miami.
Lord wants to be closer to lead investor Florida Funders, and he sees Miami as the next Silicon Valley. There’s also a high density of athletes and sports agents in the area, he said.
“It's a great hub to make and build those connections and start building a name for our business in an area like that,” he said.
