The Profluence Pod 🌐

Unrivaled, led by President Alex and co-founded with WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, launches in Miami in January 2025. The league will showcase 30 top women athletes in an exciting 3v3 format, aiming to captivate basketball fans worldwide. Alex also co-founded Through The Lens with Carmelo Anthony, a platform empowering athletes to build personal brands while retaining ownership....

This month's panel was around Youth Sports -  we delved into the opportunities, challenges, and future insights shaping the youth sports industry, which is projected to reach $69.4 billion by 2030, growing at an annual rate of 9.20%. The panel discussed key issues such as rampant market fragmentation, high customer acquisition costs (CAC), limited monetization options, short time frames to capture...

Players Health, founded by Tyrre Burks, is transforming youth sports by creating safer, more accessible environments for athletes. Focused on injury prevention, risk management, and safety solutions, the company helps sports organizations provide a better experience for young athletes, ensuring their well-being both on and off the field. Through initiatives like the Microgrant Campaign, Players He...

BatFast, led by Runish Gudhka, is transforming how athletes and fans experience sports through cutting-edge simulation technology. BatFast combines advanced hardware—such as ball-throwing machines, actuators, and sensors—with machine learning algorithms, immersive graphics, and gamification modules to create world-class sports simulation products.  From cricket to multiple sports, BatFast's techno...

Amir Zonozi, CEO of Zoomph, is revolutionizing how sports, entertainment, and esports measure sponsorship value and audience engagement. With advanced analytics and real-time viewership insights, Zoomph empowers teams, leagues, and brands to make informed decisions across broadcast and social channels, setting the standard for quality analytics. Zoomph’s advanced features include industry-leading...

Uplift Labs, co-founded by Sukemasa Kabayama, is breaking new ground in athlete performance and health using AI-powered movement analysis. Uplift's latest launch, the 'Uplift' app, uses a single iPhone camera to track and analyze user movements, making advanced technology previously reserved for professional athletes available to the everyday gym-goer. The app provides personalized training progra...

Nick Venson, founder and CEO of Swag Golf, is transforming the golf industry with his bold approach. Swag Golf is known for its limited-edition accessories and apparel, combining top-quality craftsmanship with unique designs that resonate with a passionate community of golf enthusiasts. Swag Golf began with four friends in a small 2,500-square-foot unit in Northbrook, Illinois, driven by the idea...

Primanti Brothers, famous for its iconic French-fry-topped sandwiches, blends tradition with modern innovation to deliver a unique dining experience loved by generations. Since 1933, the brand has expanded across multiple locations, driven by strong customer loyalty, creative marketing, and ongoing digital transformation. At the helm is Adam Golomb, an award-winning marketing expert with over 20 y...

BASport, founded by Bharath Rao, is revolutionizing the sports industry with a fresh and innovative approach to strategic investments. BASport focuses on more than just capital infusion, prioritizing meaningful connections with stakeholders and delivering tangible results. Their goal is to set new standards for growth and innovation across the sports landscape. Bharath Rao, a former coach at the N...

Indiana Sports Corp is a driving force behind the biggest sports events in Indiana, including the BigTen Football Championship, Olympic Swimming Trials, and the 2026 NCAA Final Four.  The Indiana Sports Corp have led to over $4 billion in direct spending in the Indiana region since its inception.  Patrick Talty is an experienced C-level sports executive having worked for the WWE, U.S. Bank Stadium...

League of Play is an innovative GenZ-focused sports league bridging the gap between creators and fans.  After a successful pilot event, League of Play is expanding into a season format with live-streamed competitions featuring top creators. Viewers vote on distractions that affect the gameplay. Hank Leber is a serial entrepreneur from the ad agency world who founded Gigster before League of Play. ...

The Nucleus Network is a network development agency that unlocks the power of connections through a vetted group of successful individuals and businesses. The company is led by Jake Fleshner and Michael Axman. Jake was previously the CRO of Dave Meltzer Enterprises, and Michael was the head of partnerships at Teleport.  The Nucleus Network’s core areas are fundraising/startup advisory, lead genera...

Investing heavily across sports and entertainment, Lauren Selig shares some deep insights with us today.  Shake and Bake is a venture fund and advisory firm.  Lauren Selig Lauren Selig is the founder of Shake and Bake Productions, Curiosity Ink, V.A.L.I.S., and Tangled Little Dragon. She is an advisor to Bold Capital, WETA, and the Ackerley Sports Group.  Lauren has produced dozens of Academy and...

With over 300+ locations sold, Pickleball Kingdom is one of the fastest-growing franchises in sports.  Pickleball Kingdom is a holding company of pickleball facilities around the United States, serving players of all levels.  Ace Rodrigues is a serial entrepreneur jumping into the business of pickleball after first discovering the game a few years ago.  Chapters: (02:00) Discovering pickleball (05...

Quickly scaling over the last few years, GoRout has been transforming on-field communication, led by founder Mike Rolih.  GoRout is the only system that combines on-field wearable technology and real-time playmaking software to help teams perfect their on-field communication. Mike played collegiate baseball and was the President of Mirro before founding Gorout in his garage.  Chapters: (00:30) Mik...

Rebranding to LEAD, Justin Driscoll is the principal overseeing the pre-seed investment fund out of Lake Nona.  LEAD is a family of funds investing across all stages of venture.  Prior to joining LEAD, he spent two years in an operational capacity at DS Sports and Magnus Group, a holding company that acquired youth sports event companies and built a ball-tracking technology platform. He is a forme...

1st party data is reimagining the athletics landscape, and Adam Azor from Sportradar is at the forefront of it.  Sportradar is one of the world’s largest sports technology companies reimagining immersive experiences for sports fans and bettors.  Adam Azor is an integrated marketer with experience from global to local recently being promoted to EVP at Sportradar.  Chapters: (00:20) Adam Azor and Sp...

One of the largest early-stage investors in the world, Trey Bowles is currently the Managing Director of Techstars where he runs two accelerator programs: Techstars Anywhere and Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth.  Techstars is a pre-seed investor providing early-stage entrepreneurs access to capital, mentorship, and other support.  Some of Trey Bowles’ other projects include InnoCity Partners,...

Recently receiving investment from the NBA, NHL, and Profluence Capital, John Stewart is transforming sports at Fastbreak AI.  Fastbreak AI brings the power of world-class, sports scheduling optimization featuring a robust and intuitive user experience for league setup, defining scheduling goals, metric reporting, schedule modification, and distribution. John Stewart sold his last company, MapAnyt...

With ownership in sports from grassroots to the pros and in nearly every niche, Jordan Gazdik breaks down the landscape for us.  BENCHPLAYERS is a portfolio of sport-related assets, driven by partnerships with industry leaders at all levels of the ecosystem.  Jordan Gazdik founded BENCHPLAYERS to help push forward sports by creating a better future through ownership.  Chapters: (00:45) Jordan’s ba...

Padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, and Ben Nichols saw this as a unique opportunity to build a PR firm for it.  Padel 22 is a global padel-dedicated communications consultancy that helps organizations, rights holders, brands, events, players and other stakeholders tell their stories and be part of the sport’s expanding global footprint.  Ben Nichols has nearly 20  years of ex...

Once the 35th-ranked female tennis player in the world, CiCi Bellis is now the founding partner of Cartan Capital. Cartan Capital is a venture capital firm focused on the sports and health technology markets – particularly Seed and Series A stage companies.  At only 25 years old, CiCi Bellis is one of the youngest investors in sports.  Chapters: (00:30) CiCi’s background (03:15) Tennis re-structur...

Quidich is revolutionizing the broadcasting experience having recently raised a Series A fundraising round with the company led by film entrepreneur Rahat Kulshreshtha.  Quidich Innovation Labs was originally an aerial filmmaking company that has since evolved into a global technology leader in sports broadcasting.  In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Rahat Kulshreshtha is a founding mem...

Justin Bass is a Managing Director in the Sports and Entertainment Group at MAI Capital, where he joined in 2022 and has worked with professional athletes and high-net-worth individuals/families for over 25 years.   MAI Capital Management, LLC is a full-service wealth manager for high-net-worth individuals and high-net-worth families; plus, a provider of targeted investment solutions for financial...

In 9 markets and with millions in revenue per year, Gio Marcantoni is the founder of Volo Sports.  Started as a 16-person Bocce league in Baltimore in 2010, Volo Sports now has over 300,000 members nationally.  Similar to how youth sports clubs have been rolled up, Gio Marcantoni has taken a similar approach to adult social sports.  Chapters: (00:30) Volo inception (06:45) GTM strategy (08:00) Bus...