Acquisition deepens Gravyty's commitment to serving every department of the university—empowering athletic departments to meet new fundraising goals
SEATTLE, June 24, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Gravyty, the leading provider of AI-powered engagement solutions for higher education, today announced the acquisition of Athlete Network, a platform designed to foster lifelong connections between student-athletes and athletic alumni.
The acquisition marks another step in Gravyty's mission to power personalized engagement across the entire student journey—from a prospective student's first inquiry through alumni giving. Athlete Network has established a strong presence in the collegiate athletics space, providing a trusted platform for engaging student-athletes and alumni that reaches leading athletic institutions—including Penn State, Texas Tech, and Alabama. With this acquisition, Gravyty will integrate its advanced fundraising and engagement solutions into Athlete Network's ecosystem, helping athletic departments modernize development efforts as they take on increasing responsibility for donor engagement and fundraising efforts related to athlete revenue sharing opportunities.
With enhanced budget pressures and athlete compensation requirements–athletic departments are rethinking how they engage stakeholders and drive philanthropic support. This shift requires tools that go beyond engagement to enable strategic, scalable fundraising. Gravyty already supports more than 25.2 million students and alumni through its SaaS platforms and partners with thousands of U.S. higher education institutions. By pairing Athlete Network's trusted presence in athletics with Gravyty's robust donor intelligence, automation, and giving tools, institutions can unify their outreach and future-proof their fundraising strategy.
"Athletics has always been a powerful force for connection on campus," said Ned Myers, COO at Gravyty. "This acquisition gives us the opportunity to provide athletic departments with the same market-leading fundraising infrastructure that advancement teams rely on every day."
The Athlete Network platform will become part of the Gravyty suite of solutions and provide best in class engagement and fundraising to Athletic Departments: Gravyty already serves advancement, enrollment, and student services teams. With Athlete Network, it strengthens its presence in athletic departments—bringing unified engagement and fundraising tools to every corner of campus.
"Athletic departments are looking for smarter, more scalable ways to engage alumni and supporters—and that starts with personalized, tech-enabled outreach," said Chris Smith, CEO of Athlete Network. "Together with Gravyty, we can equip these departments with the engagement and fundraising tools they need to meet ambitious goals in a fast-changing environment."
The acquisition builds Gravyty's broader category leadership in engagement infrastructure. Following its 2025 merger with Ivy.ai and Ocelot, Gravyty unified best-in-class AI and automation across enrollment, student services, and advancement. Now, with Athlete Network, Gravyty becomes the only provider enabling seamless engagement across every phase of the education lifecycle, including athletics.
About Gravyty
Gravyty is revolutionizing engagement with AI-powered solutions that connect and support the entire student and donor lifecycle. Serving over 2,700 education and nonprofit organizations, Gravyty helps institutions foster deeper connections, enhance engagement, and drive lasting impact. Through cutting-edge technology and data-driven insights, Gravyty empowers organizations to build stronger communities, increase participation, and improve outcomes. Gravyty is the force that connects us all. For more information, visit https://gravyty.com/.
About Athlete Network
Athlete Network is the leader in software solutions for current and former student-athlete engagement and support. The company's solutions allow collegiate athletic departments and athletic associations to centralize, promote, and track the resources and services offered to their current and former student-athletes in exclusive networks. Fully integrated add-on solutions include Mentorship, Forms & Payments (fundraising), Careers, Messaging, and Content Integration. Athletic departments and athletic associations substantially improve engagement with their athletes and members, generate increased revenue and fundraising, and gain valuable data analytics and reporting to support decision making.
Media Contact
Kara Erwin, Kickstand Communications, 512-771-6911, [email protected]
SOURCE Gravyty
Share this article