Deal Brief · Week of Sep 7
Tracking the deals shaping the business of culture.
Investments
TOGETHXR and Alex Morgan’s Trybe Ventures take a stake in Bet on Her
The sports media company and Morgan’s fund acquired equity in Bet on Her, a mobile app built to fix the fragmentation of women’s sports fandom — highlights, scores, stats, and schedules across more than 60 leagues, plus a global map of women’s sports bars.
Micah Parsons joins better-for-you candy brand Good Candy as co-founder
Parsons came on as co-founder of Good Candy, a sour gummy brand pitched on 70% less sugar, added electrolytes, and no artificial ingredients. It adds to a business slate he’s built mid-career, alongside a long-running deal with jewelry brand GLD.
Lily Collins named IM8 global ambassador — with equity
Collins signed a multi-year deal with IM8, taking equity in parent company Prenetics alongside the ambassador role. She started on the supplement at her physician’s recommendation while filming in England in late 2025.
New ventures
Lando Norri launches junior racing team LN4 Fusion
The McLaren driver co-founded LN4 Fusion, a junior single-seater team racing across Europe’s ladder from 2027, alongside karting outfit Fusion Motorsport and an investment group led by Dan Richards. It’ll compete in Italian F4, Formula Regional European, and F3, and has acquired select assets from AIX Racing — including its F3 entry through 2027 — while applying for a Formula 2 slot.
Josh Allen launches Out of Pocket Studios
Allen launched a media venture spanning entertainment, commercial, and experiential projects, building on an alliance he struck with Skydance Sports in early 2025. The opening slate includes: a Labor Day special on CBS hosted by Nate Burleson, a weekly NFL Play Action on Paramount+, and a documentary, The Buffalo Miracle, from Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot.
Fundraising and acquisitions
Omri Casspi’s Swish Ventures closes a $250M Fund III
The first Israeli to play in the NBA closed a $250M third fund at Swish Ventures, taking the firm to roughly $800M in AUM in under two years. The backers include Sequoia Capital, US pension funds, university endowments, and family offices. The new fund targets Seed and Series A companies across cybersecurity, infrastructure, physical AI, defense and govtech.
Lady Gaga’s biotech startup Outer Bio raises $23M
Gaga revealed her involvement in Outer Bio, the biotech she co-founded in 2020 with fiancé Michael Polansky, its CEO — she’d sat on the board privately for years. The company has raised roughly $23M, with Wing Ventures and Initialized Capital among early backers. Its product, Yuna, is an ex vivo platform that keeps surgically discarded human skin alive for around 30 days — far past the few days standard cultures survive — for studying skin health directly.
Brand endorsements
Lamine Yamal launches his first American Eagle collection
Coming off Spain’s World Cup summer, Yamal dropped a 29-piece capsule drawing on his off-pitch style — baggy denim, cargo pants, oversized denim shirts. It’s the first full product collaboration under the five-year global ambassador deal he signed with American Eagle in January, the retailer’s first multi-year talent partnership.
Utorg signs padel world No. 1 Agustín Tapia as its first global ambassador
The Abu Dhabi fintech signed the FIP No. 1 across the Premier Padel season and digital activations for its Utapp wallet — Tapia has held the top ranking since 2023 with 55-plus career titles.
Moroccanoil names Aryna Sabalenka its first athlete ambassador
The haircare brand signed the world No. 1 as its first-ever athlete ambassador — a shift from tournament sponsorship (it’s backed the Miami Open since 2024) to a single player headlining global campaigns.
Naomi Osaka named a Tatcha global ambassador
Tatcha signed Osaka as a global ambassador alongside style figure Kiko Mizuhara and its first neuroscience ambassador, Dr. Claudia Aguirre. New CEO Diane Kim framed the trio as deliberately distinct — covering science, culture, and performance separately rather than three versions of the same woman. Tatcha sold to Unilever in 2019 for $500M.
Chloe Kelly becomes Shokz’s UK ambassador
Chloe Kelly has been named a UK ambassador for Shokz, fronting the open-ear audio brand’s “Always More” campaign. The partnership also coincides with the launch of the Shokz x Chloe Kelly Limited Edition Clutch OpenDots 2 Gift Box, which introduces the brand’s OpenDots 2 headphones in a new pink colourway.
Alex Eala lands a sponsorship deal with Panasonic
The highest-ranked Filipino in WTA history became an ambassador for Panasonic Philippines, coming off a fourth-round run at Wimbledon.
Hilary Duff joins Reebok as brand ambassador
Duff fronts Reebok’s “Unfiltered & Unstoppable” campaign across activewear and lifestyle apparel, joining a roster Authentic has been assembling — Karol G, Angel Reese, PartyNextDoor. It caps an active commercial year that included deals with Ladder, Bath & Body Works, and Aperol while touring.
Eva Longoria and Becky G front Willy Chavarria’s debut UGG collaboration
Longoria and Becky G star in “UGG and Kisses,” launching Chavarria’s first UGG collab alongside Danny Trejo — a contemporary Latino family loosely modeled on Married… with Children, filtered through Chavarria’s Mexican-American lens. The collection runs five unisex styles built on UGG silhouettes.
Robert Pattinson joins Jaeger-LeCoultre as global ambassador
The watchmaker named Pattinson a global ambassador, with his first campaign debuting mid-September.
Theo James named Gant’s global brand ambassador
Gant named James its global ambassador, launching with an FW26 campaign shot in Tribeca that leans on 1990s New York and relaxed American sportswear.
Roles and appointments
Michael Carter-Williams joins Brunswick Sports Management as partner
The former NBA guard joined Brunswick to lead its basketball practice, coming in as a partner with equity. He previously founded and ran NIL agency SOL Sports Group; Brunswick is an eight-person firm with clients across the NFL, NBA, college, and high school.
Omri Casspi going from the first Israeli in the NBA to $800M AUM in under two years is the real playbook. He didn't stay an athlete who invests, he became an operator who happened to play ball first. That's the shift I push every athlete I work with to make: the platform gets you in the room, but the fund, the brand, the business is what compounds after the career ends. Athletes with real capital and real networks should be raising funds, not just cashing checks.