Axial Radar: The Digital Sports Boom Driving M&A

Click here to subscribe to Axial Radar.

Happy Friday and welcome to another edition of Axial Radar!

Sports – national pastime, distraction of choice from the news, and now popular investment sector for opportunistic private equity investors. As we’ve seen in countless industries, Covid-19 has accelerated digital trends by 5-10 years, fundamentally, and in some cases permanently changing the way consumers engage with products.

Digital sports consumption in particular has skyrocketed as the pandemic continues to keep loyal fans out of stadiums. Coming off a record year of investment in the space, investors are starting to recognize the opportunity at hand. Head down to this week’s featured Industry Trends article to read more about the increased competition in sports investments and why private equity is primed to leverage not only their capital, but their digital chops as well to capitalize on this accelerated, Covid-induced trend.

Our featured buy-side members this week include a Florida-based private equity firm, an education focused investment firm, and a private investment firm co-run by principals with over 35 years of investment and operational experience. On the sell-side we’ll introduce you to a Florida-based investment banking firm and a 30 year old investment bank headquartered in Washington DC.

Click here to follow Axial on LinkedIn and stay up to date on the latest trends in the world of Lower Middle Market deal making.

Axial

Featured Members

	Validor Capital Private Equity Firm Validor Capital is an operationally-focused private investment firm that provides liquidity to family-owned manufacturing and industrial service businesses in the lower middle market. The firm seeks to leverage its expertise and deep relationships with operating executives to bring significant financial, strategic, and managerial value to the businesses they acquire. Validor Capital was founded by Matthew Kaufman, a senior private equity professional with more than 20 years of principal investing experience. Read More

	Victory Partners, LLC M&A Advisory Firm Victory Partners is a full-service investment bank offering wall street sophistication to main street clients. Headquartered in Florida, the firm covers a wide range of industries including software, consumer financial services, B2B services, consumer brands, healthcare, manufacturing, distributors, specialty retail, and technology. The firm was founded by private equity and investment banking professional, Todd Lazenby. Prior to founding Victory Park, Mr. Lazenby was the managing partner at Summit Partners in Los Angeles. View Profile

	Cascadily Partners Independent Sponsor Cascadily is an education sector-focused private equity sponsor. The firm’s sector focus and deep experience guide their partnerships. Cascadily was founded by investor and operator, Josh Susser. Prior to founding Cascadily, Josh led education investments for ECMC Group where he developed and executed an investment strategy across the education sector in K-12 and Higher Education. Earlier in his career Josh was an investment banker with Piper Jaffray & Co. and Mercanti Group. View Profile

	HamiltonClark Sustainable Capital, Inc. Investment Bank Hamilton Clark is a Washington DC based investment bank. The firm assists privately-held and publicly-traded companies with corporate finance and strategic advice, institutional private placement financing of debt and equity, merger, acquisition and divestiture engagements, and project financing. HamiltonClark also advises private companies on how to undertake an IPO in the U.S. public markets, and on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Originally founded in 1989, the firm has engaged in over 125 investment banking assignments, and their Managing Directors have been engaged in close to 200 assignments while working for other financial organizations. View Profile

	Auricle Capital Partners Independent Sponsor Auricle Capital Partners, LLC was founded to invest in high quality US-based family and founder-owned businesses. The firm’s principals have over 35 years of experience as investors in, advisors to, and operators of middle market businesses. Auricle focuses on healthcare and B2B products and services, as well as other industries in certain situations. Auricle Capital Partners was founded by Burke Ramsay and Neil Schaefer. View Profile