Women’s Game Firm Monark Collective UPS Fund Size

Billionaire -backed investment firm Monark Collective has expanded the shape of its fund in light of continuous increase in the popularity of women’s game.

The fund launched in 2023 is growing from $ 150 million to $ 250 million, with most of additional capital coming from existing investors, including Pivatal Ventures of Melina French Gates, Sarah Harden, Hello Sunshine’s CEO Sarah Harden and former Netflix executive Cindy Holland and Partner Annie Imhamoff.

The new investors have also come on the board, the firm said in an announcement on Thursday, which includes the Chairman of the Beth Brook, former Global Vice President Public Policy and Elizabeth Yi, Executive Vice President of the programs at the Rockfeller Foundation.

“We will be the biggest fund in women’s game,” said Kara Nortman, co-founder and managing partner of Monarch. “You hear a lot of noise about the people starting it, but we are on it for a while.”

Monark Collectives specifically formed specially to invest in women’s sports in leagues, teams and media rights.

Prior to Monarch, Nortman worked in a venture capital firm and was the first to merge and acquire group in IAC. She co-established the Angel City FC of the National Women’s Football League in 2020. He launched the firm with Jasmine Robinson, who was recently in Coseway, a growth stage investment funds that focused on sports, media, gaming and fitness. He also played investment roles in various firms, as well as NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.

Monarch usually makes a minority bets with its investment, but works closely with the owners of the teams, Nortman said.

“We are doing day-to-day, in terms of putting teams at work, the control owner works at work, designing practice facilities, being a sounding board when something goes right or something goes wrong, then in fact, thinking what the unique fan experience in this (team) market and how it ties from (team) missions, said that” said Nortmann. “And the capital we can insert to work against it has increased.”

So far, Monarch has invested in three NWSL teams – Angel City FC, Bose Nation and San Diego Wave. Last year, Angel City sold a controlled stake for an unknown amount to journalist Willow Bay and Disney CEO Bob Igar, which gave the team a price of $ 250 million. The firm said it was the highest evaluation on record for a professional women’s sports team.

Monarch was founded on her tails which has become one of the biggest spikes in popularity for women’s game over the years. In particular, the stars Ketleen Clarke and Angel Reese helped to lift the Women’s National Basketball Association to record ratings in the previous season, and in general, the audience around the women’s game received land and attracted more advertisers.

As a result, investors are willing to participate in development.

“No one is denying that women’s games are growing, and that we are leading and experts in it. So people continue to come to us, want to work with us, want to work with us or really become investmentable before seeing things,” Nortman said.

According to Thursday’s release, Monarch plans to invest in the near period in both American and international teams.

“We focus on the most mature women’s games – so where we see a way for media revenue and go up and very approximately correct,” Nortman said. “The core thesis is that we can build with team level revenue, or to break it closer.”

Media rights for WNBA, for example, can see a price revaluation after the 2028 season, which is responsible for recent popularity, CNBC stated last year. WNBA media rights were interacted as part of a $ 77 billion NBA agreement, which begins on the next season. WNBA- The specific contract is priced at $ 2.2 billion in 11 sessions.