Former NBA All-Stars and NFL All-Pro Welcome All Current and Former Professional Athletes to Invest in Tech Startups Across the World
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 29, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- When Walter Pitchford, a former NBA G League player and investment professional, was speaking with various friends and acquaintances in the NBA and NFL over the past couple years many of them expressed interest in the types of startup investment opportunities that he was seeing.
"These past few years, I've been meeting with various founders and venture capitalists and building my network in Silicon Valley and other startup hotspots. So when I began sharing some of these startup investment opportunities with my friends, the response was overwhelming," explained Walter Pitchford, Co-founder and Partner at the ProPlayers VC Club.
Eventually Walter decided to partner with SparkLabs, a network of startup accelerators and venture capital funds that has invested in almost 400 startups primarily across the U.S. and Asia since 2013.
"I met a couple of the partners at SparkLabs and we saw eye-to-eye on many things and built a relationship of trust. So when this idea came up, it was an easy decision to partner with them. Then I spoke with Nick (Van Exel), Tara (Kelly), and Ray (Crockett), and all of them were excited to found and build up this new investor group."
Tara Kelly is entrepreneur and investor who started her career at Roubini Global Economics and Bloomberg, where she led an independent research platform within Bloomberg's trading division. Nick Van Exel is currently an NBA assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks. He is former NBA All-Star with the Los Angeles Lakers. Ray Crockett is two-time Super Bowl champion (XXXII, XXXIII) with the Denver Broncos and former All-Pro with the Detroit Lions. Baron Davis is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He was previously a NBA All-Star and All-NBA member who played with the Charlotte Hornets, Golden State Warriors, LA Clippers and others. He was one of the original investors in Vitaminwater and many other startups.
Their club just recently opened their website and invited their network to join the investor club (http://www.proplayersvcclub.com) for members to get access to startup dealflow. What is different compared with most investors club is that any member can receive access and advice to their own businesses and startup ideas from a world-class group of experienced entrepreneurs, investors and Silicon Valley executives.
Nick Van Exel stated, "while we are in the midst of recession, it is a great time in invest in startups since the time period of investment to exit is usually 8 to 12 years at the seed stage and 3 to 5 years at the late-stages. Also last year, when the markets were up, the valuations got crazy. This year valuations are slowly coming back down to earth, so we are excited about investing during today's market conditions in the startup world."
The ProPlayers VC Club will also be donating four percent of their carried interest to four nonprofit organizations to support communities or causes that they or SparkLabs is familiar with.
About ProPlayers VC Club
ProPlayers VC Club (http://www.proplayersvcclub.com) is an investor club open to all sports professionals without obligations. Current and former professional athletes can join without any minimum requirements to invest. The mission is part education, advising members to increase their business knowledge, and gain an understanding of the risks of startup investing. Any professional from across all sports are welcomed to join.
About SparkLabs Group
SparkLabs Group (http://www.sparklabsgroup.com) is a network of startup accelerators and venture capital funds that has invested in almost 400 startups across 6 continents since 2013. We believe innovation is global and entrepreneurial knowledge, excitement and talent continues to spread around the world.
We are innovation ecosystem builders that help local startups go global. We are passionate about helping entrepreneurs because we have been there many times before from dreams on a napkin to building products through the night.
Media Contact
Bernard Moon, ProPlayers VC Club, 650-454-5244, [email protected]
SOURCE ProPlayers VC Club
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