Nearly seven years after announcing its first fund, Sapphire Sport is spinning out from Sapphire Ventures. The venture fund, which focuses on sports, media, and entertainment, will rebrand as an independent venture firm called 359 Capital.
The firm’s new name is a tribute to the sub-four-minute mile, a feat once deemed humanly impossible but ultimately achieved through rigorous dedication and perseverance. Michael Spirito, managing partner and co-founder of 359 Capital, said that the name reflects the firm’s core principle of helping its portfolio founders achieve the impossible.
The separation from Sapphire Ventures, an investment firm with about eleven billion dollars in assets under management, was always part of the long-term vision. Spirito remarked that the team is now grown up and ready to leave home.
Sapphire Sport, which is currently halfway through investing its second fund of one hundred eighty-one million dollars, has always maintained a separate group of limited partners from Sapphire Ventures. Its limited partners are all deeply tied to the sports industry, including major names like City Football Group, adidas, AEG, Madison Square Garden, Sinclair, and dozens of team owners.
When the fund started in 2019, the name Sapphire Sport was chosen not just for its alliterative sound but because it captured the essence of the limited partner group. Seven years later, these sports-focused limited partners still leverage their relationship with the firm to gain insights into emerging tech companies across the media and sports landscape.
Some of the startups 359 Capital has backed include Beehiiv, a creator-focused newsletter platform, an online casino, Betty Labs, a sports media platform, Overtime, an AI search engine, Perplexity, a successful AI browser, and Tonal, a home gym system.
The firm’s entire portfolio of thirty companies and all of its investment staff will move over to 359 Capital. The transitioning staff includes Spirito, co-founders of Sapphire Ventures David Hartwig and Doug Higgins, and newly promoted partner Rico Mallozzi.
As 359 Capital, the firm will continue to focus primarily on Series A and Series B startups, writing checks between two million and ten million dollars. The firm will continue to invest from its second fund through the first half of 2027.
359 Capital will have high-profile competition in the world of sports-focused venture capital. Courtside Ventures, which is backed by Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan, is in the process of raising a fourth fund of one hundred million dollars according to a recent SEC filing.