Collaborative Fund Joins the Race for Pro Sports Ownership

Venture capital is moving beyond startups and into the world of professional sports. Collaborative Fund, the New York-based investment firm known for backing companies such as Lyft, Reddit, Sweetgreen, and Olipop, is taking a stake in Major League Soccer club D.C. United and its home stadium, Audi Field.

The investment marks a new direction for the 15-year-old firm, which manages approximately $1 billion in assets. It also highlights how venture investors are finding new ways to participate in the growing business of sports ownership.

Collaborative Fund is following a path that Thrive Capital helped establish earlier this year. Led by Joshua Kushner, Thrive launched Thrive Eternal, a permanent-capital vehicle designed to hold “iconic franchises and cultural institutions” for decades. The vehicle initially acquired a stake in the San Francisco Giants before making headlines with its purchase of the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5 billion. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger, a Thrive partner, joined the Lakers ownership group as a co-owner.

A Different Route Into Sports

Investors have traditionally entered professional sports through personal fortunes or private equity firms. Tech entrepreneur Vinod Khosla and his family, for instance, agreed this summer to purchase the Seattle Seahawks for a record $9.6 billion. The Khosla family had also recently taken a stake in the San Francisco 49ers alongside OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor.

Private equity has been active in sports for years. Sixth Street holds stakes in teams including the Boston Celtics, New England Patriots, and San Francisco Giants. Ares owns part of the Miami Dolphins and separately provided $500 million in preferred-equity financing for Chelsea’s stadium plans. RedBird owns AC Milan and holds a minority stake in Fenway Sports Group, which controls Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox. Arctos has minority investments across Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA, and European soccer. Apollo, another recent entrant, has focused primarily on sports financing rather than direct ownership.

Collaborative Fund’s approach is different from both models. Unlike Thrive, it is not using a separate, long-term vehicle built specifically for trophy assets. Instead, the D.C. United investment comes from the same early-stage fund the firm uses for seed and Series A investments.

More Than a Team Investment

In a memo shared with TechCrunch, Collaborative Fund founder and managing partner Craig Shapiro described a sports franchise as “the ultimate consumer product.” He argued that D.C. United’s status as one of MLS’s original clubs gives the firm access to an established institution with a loyal fan base built over decades.

The investment thesis also extends beyond the soccer team itself. Shapiro pointed to the momentum behind soccer in the United States, including the recent World Cup, the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics, and rising youth participation.

D.C. United also owns Audi Field in Washington, D.C., has a talent-development pipeline through Loudoun County, Virginia, and holds rights to a future Baltimore expansion team.

At a TechCrunch StrictlyVC event in New York, Shapiro explained that Collaborative Fund is interested in what the club and stadium can make possible. The firm hopes to use Audi Field as a real-world showcase for companies in its investment portfolio.

For example, fitness wearable company Whoop could potentially run fan activations, while Olipop could become part of the stadium’s game-day concessions. The idea is to view the stadium’s tens of thousands of predictable visitors as a valuable distribution channel. Shapiro believes live experiences are becoming more important as artificial intelligence makes more aspects of daily life feel digital or synthetic.

Rising Team Valuations Add to the Appeal

The investment may also benefit from the sharp rise in sports valuations. Inter Miami’s franchise value has approximately doubled in the two years since Lionel Messi joined the club. Meanwhile, the average MLS team valuation has increased by roughly 134% since 2019.

D.C. United’s own valuation has grown from $35 million in 2008 to $785 million today, including its ownership of Audi Field and surrounding real estate.

For Collaborative Fund, the deal combines a financial investment with potential access to a powerful consumer platform. Whether that strategy delivers remains to be seen, as the transaction is still subject to approval from Major League Soccer.

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