Alexander Bente, Jeremy Pressman and Michael Redd - ADvantage Sports Fund
In this episode, Alexandra Daly is joined by Alex Bente, Jeremy Pressman and Michael Redd, the team behind the exciting ADvantage Sports Fund, a joint venture between leAD Sports and OurCrowd. They provide unique insights into the fast growing sports tech market, which is expected to triple in the next 5 years, and where they see the greatest opportunities to invest, including e-sports, at home fitness, next-gen fan engagement/experience and tracking & analytics. Alexander Bente is Co-founder of the ADvantage Sports Fund. Prior to this he co-founded the leAD sports accelerator in 2016. He is the great-grandson of Adi Dassler, the founder of Adidas, which has become one of the most valuable and highly regarded sports brands in the world. Continuing the family tradition, Alex is passionate about sports entrepreneurship and the opportunities to invest in category changing companies through the ADvatnage fund. Through the success of the fund, Alex aims not only to revitalize his great grandfather’s legacy, but to establish a lasting legacy of his own. Alex holds a Master’s degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of St. Gallen, one of the leading business schools in Europe, and gained venture experience during his graduate studies and thereafter while co-founding multiple companies to preserve his great grandfather’s legacy (including a Multi Family Office, Multi Asset Fund, Athlete Management and Advisory Concept, Hollywood movie concept etc). Jeremy Pressman is Partner at the ADvantage Sports Fund, and also happens to be Israel’s only active venture capitalist and professional basketball player, a unique combination for leading a sports tech investment fund. With over five years in venture, Jeremy has vast experience sourcing and conducting due diligence on technology deals with a specific focus on sports - including Replay Technologies (acquired by Intel ~$180m). After a successful collegiate career at Yeshiva University, Jeremy chose to pursue his basketball career in Israel. Jeremy is a veteran of Israel’s Artzit basketball league having played six seasons on a number of teams in the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv areas. Jeremy has connections with professional athletes and teams in a number of international leagues, including NBA, NFL, Euroleague, MLS, CBA, and many more. Michael Redd is Venture Partner at the ADvantage, and a former professional basketball player and Olympic gold medallist. Michael has been building, developing and investing in tech-focused startups since he retired from the NBA in 2013. After twelve seasons as a professional basketball player, both in the NBA and the US Olympic team in 2008, Michael has continued a strong drive toward excellence in his focus on ventures off the court. Michael is also involved in SnapChat’s Yellow incubator as a mentor and investor, and developing his own venture relationships with his firm 22 Ventures. leAD is a global sports entrepreneurship and investment platform inspired by Adi Dassler - one of the most successful sports entrepreneurs in history and the founding father of the modern sports industry. Initiated by the grandchildren of Adi Dassler and a unique group of shareholders, leAD has assembled a world class network of industry experts, mentors and executives from the sports tech ecosystem. Our Crowd is Israel’s most active VC with over $1bn of committed funds worldwide. Their global network consists of 30k members across 183 countries. Since 2013, they have successfully made 34 exits – including freeD Technologies (acq. Intel), Invertex (acq. Nike), Jump (acq. Uber).