Ami Galani and Fielding Jamieson have closed on their initial fundraise for Tipt Ventures, the duo’s new venture capital fund focused on how women engage with the sports economy.
Tipt, which is seeking a $50 million in total capital, will announce the news later Thursday.
“We see sports as an economy that’s ultimately consumer content and enterprise,” Galani said on a phone call. “It’s a continuation of work that my co-founder and I did when I was at Elysian Park and she was at R/GA Ventures, through a partnership called Trailblazer Venture Studio.”
The Trailblazer portfolio focuses on the intersection of women and sports, and includes investments secured under Galani and Jamieson in Canopy Team, The Gist and Ida Sports, among others. Tipt’s first investment, also being announced, is in Ida Sports, which manufactures cleats specifically for women.
“We said ‘Let’s launch a dedicated fund that is focused on really putting women at the center of the sports experience, whether it’s women’s sports, men’s sports; whether they’re fans, mothers, adjacent consumers,” Galani said. “What does it look like if we put them at the center and really solve things for them as they engage in the sports economy? That’s Tipt Ventures.”
The size of the initial fundraising toward Tipt’s $50 million initial fund goal isn’t being disclosed, but Galani said the amount is “a meaningful milestone” toward that target, and includes money raised from sports executives, seasoned VC backers and retail investors.
While Tipt is focused on women’s interaction with sports, the fund won’t be pursuing ownership in sports franchises. Instead, it seeks under-supported opportunities in the otherwise hotly competitive sports business VC market, “where there is a current or near-term need that should be able to be met. Let’s fund the companies that can meet those needs and let’s position them for good-sized businesses. We look for mustangs, not unicorns,” Galani said.
That means Tipt isn’t looking for lottery ticket-like returns from one company out of a clutch of businesses a fund may invest in, an approach more typical of VCs. Rather, Tipt seeks good returns across its portfolio in each company. “Help it grow into a nice, healthy business that is ultimately exitable in high quality, middle market deals,” the executive explained.
Those businesses probably are to be found in women-led ventures, with Tipt saying only about 3% of VC funds go to women-led firms. Tipt expects to fund opportunities in media and content, athlete and fan experience, data and analytics, pre-collegiate and college sports, and performance science. Potential portfolio companies should already have revenue in addition to being able to address an unmet need. Tipt generally will aim to invest $500,000 to $1 million in a target, Galani explained.
Austin-based Galani and Atlanta-based Jamieson are operating Tipt full-time as managing partners.
