Courtside is looking to raise a $100 million fourth fund. Jordan recently sold the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets in a $3 billion deal.Illustration by Lorenzo Gordon, Photo by Getty Images
Michael Jordan is putting money into Courtside Ventures, a VC fund focused on sports, lifestyle and gaming.
The billionaire has invested in Courtside’s current round, business partner Curtis Polk said in a text message. In June, Courtside filed a Form D with the SEC outlining its plans to raise $100 million for its fourth fund. It previously raised about $190 million total across its first three funds.
It’s unclear how much Jordan is putting in. A representative for Courtside declined to comment.
Jordan is the highest-paid athlete of all-time, according to Sportico’s numbers, with more than $3.75 billion in inflation-adjusted earnings. He is currently worth about $3.5 billion, per Forbes.
His long-time relationship with Nike has earned him more than a billion dollars, and he recently sold the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets in a roughly $3 billion deal. His investments include DraftKings, Sportradar, Axiomatic, Cincoro tequila, fintech startup Vanilla, and various golf and restaurant real estate projects. He also co-owns a NASCAR team, 23XI Racing, and is currently in a legal battle with the racing circuit over antitrust concerns.
Courtside was founded in 2016, back when sports-focused funds—particularly in early-stage investing—were rare. The group currently has three funds, more than 100 investments and $200-plus million in assets under management, according to a post on its website from May of this year.
Its Fund I, a $35 million vehicle with just two LPs, made 41 investments, with an average initial check size of $359,000. The largest position in any one company from that fund was $5.6 million, across three checks. As of May, the fund had exited nine positions, 18 of the companies were shuttered, and 14 were still active. Across the remaining positions and proceeds from the exits, Courtside estimated that the first fund’s invest capital had returned about $89 million.
Fund II, a $54 million vehicle with a larger LP base, made 30 investments with an average initial check size of $763,000. The largest position in one company was $5.5 million. Of those 30 investments, three were acquired, seven were shuttered and 20 positions are still active as of May. Courtside estimated those positions to be valued around $106 million.
Courtside raised $100 million for Fund III in 2021. Its May recap says that while it is too early to share metrics from the fund, it will likely be comprised of 34 investments, with an average initial check size of $1.5 million. That fund’s focus was more global than the first two, including a specific focus on gaming in emerging markets like India and Africa.
Courtside’s partners are Deepen Parikh, Vasu Kulkarni and Kai Bond. Its advisors include former NFL player Larry Fitzgerald and former DraftKings exec Sean Hurley.