Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers is the latest Super Bowl MVP bringing in millions to invest in the world of startups and beyond.
Rx3 Ventures, a new Southern California outfit that counts Rodgers among its three co-founders, has closed its debut growth fund on $50 million, which the firm plans to deploy mainly in the consumer sector. The firm says other professional athletes, musicians and actors also invested in the vehicle. In a press release, Rodgers cited the amount of investment opportunities athletes are pitched with as a main motivation for the fund's launch.
Rx3's other two co-founders are Nate Raabe and Byron Roth—you can see what they did there with the firm's name—both come from Roth Capital Partners, an investment banking firm that focuses on small-cap companies on the public market. Rx3 has already backed several companies, including the CorePower Yoga chain of studios and Vicis, which makes new-age football helmets.
At this point, it's hardly exceptional for a superstar athlete like Rodgers to dip a toe into the world of investing. Last month, Serena Williams officially revealed her new firm, Serena Ventures. It's been nearly three years since Kobe Bryant launched a $100 million VC fund. LeBron James has made millions investing in Blaze Pizza and other companies. Northgate Capital, which was co-founded by former San Francisco 49ers Tommy Vardell and Brent Jones, is raising $120 million for its latest fund, per a recent SEC filing. The list goes on.
It also includes two other names who would probably join Rodgers on a short list of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. Joe Montana is a general partner at Liquid 2 Ventures, a seed-stage firm that's in the process of raising its second fund. And Steve Young, who was Montana's backup on the 49ers before becoming a superstar in his own right, is a co-founder at HGGC, a private equity firm that's deployed more than $5 billion since its inception.
Between the three of them, Rodgers, Montana and Young have combined to win eight Super Bowls, six MVP awards and five Super Bowl MVPs. And before long, they might all be more concerned with IRRs.
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