Venture

His Football Career Over, Will Tom Brady Focus On Startup Ventures?

Quarterback Tom Brady in 2019

With Tom Brady announcing his retirement (again), most people will conjure up memories of his dramatic comeback wins, championship clinching drives or maybe even him almost throwing the Lombardi Trophy into the Tampa Bay.

However, the seven-time Super Bowl champion, three-time NFL MVP and sure-fire Football Hall of Famer also has a small footprint in the venture and startup world.

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The San Mateo, California, native has invested in a handful of startups, co-founded a couple and seems to be a crypto enthusiast even with ties to the disgraced FTX platform.

Deals

Brady has made only a few startup investments thus far — some that cross into sports and celebrity, per Crunchbase data.

His investments include:

  • Culver City, California-based Omaze, an online fundraising platform that offers once-in-a-lifetime experiences and prizes to support nonprofits. The startup has raised $127 million, according to Crunchbase data.
  • New York-based watch retailer Hodinkee, which has raised $40 million in capital to date, per Crunchbase.
  • Washington, D.C.-based Class Technologies, which provides Zoom for classrooms. The startup has raised $164 million, per Crunchbase.
  • San Francisco-based Alt, an alternative asset platform that allows people to buy, sell and even store sports cards. The company has raised $306 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

The former University of Michigan Wolverine also has co-founded two VC-backed startups himself.

He is co-chairman and sits on the board at Andreessen Horowitz-backed Autograph — which helps athletes and entertainers launch and promote their NFTs. The company has received more than $200 million, according to Crunchbase.

He also is co-founder of Religion of Sports, a sports media company in Santa Monica that provides videos, podcasts, films and social content about athletics. The startup has taken in $63 million in funding to date, per Crunchbase.

FTX

And of course there is FTX — as we mentioned. Brady was one of nearly a dozen athletes and celebrities who promoted FTX.

In November, a class-action lawsuit was filed in Miami alleging FTX’s yield-bearing accounts were unregistered securities and is seeking unspecified damages from FTX co-founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and many of those who promoted it such as Brady, Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen, tennis player Naomi Osaka, basketball star Steph Curry, and the Golden State Warriors.

The FTX deal is likely one of the few things Brady will not win.

Now that he is retired, it’ll be interesting to see if Brady becomes more involved in venture and VC-backed startups. There are worse people to be associated with than someone commonly referred to as the “GOAT” — or “greatest of all time.”

Photo: Alexander Jonesi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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