$77M: Athletes Use VC Platform To Invest in The Future of Frozen Food (Daily Harvest)

Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Serena Williams, and more invest in a unique plant-based company now valued at $1B.

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Daily Harvest is a plant-based, frozen food delivery company that raised $77M in Series D funding in November 2021.

But what’s great…

Yesterday it was announced that a handful of star athletes including Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Jared Goff, Trea Turner, and Kemba Walker were investors in the round.

The athletes' investments came via Patricof Co (PCO), which is a private investment platform designed to meet the unique business needs and opportunities of professional athletes.

We are seeing more athletes take part in early-stage venture funding.

But there’s often an education gap…

That’s why more athletes are providing capital to unique platforms like Patricof Co. and letting them handle the investing portion.

So how exactly does it work?

Let’s dive in 👇

Patricof (PCO)

Patricof, which is backed by J.P. Morgan, has built their whole platform around granting athletes access to transactions typically unavailable to individual or institutional investors.

As the world’s most influential celebrities, professional athletes have a proven ability to directly impact investment performance. 

Historically, the athlete-brand relationship has centered around the endorsement of specific products or services; however, athletes are significantly more valuable as shareholders.

PCO’s clientele is impressive:

Their website doesn’t showcase athlete clients (rightfully so), but we can speculate based on their press releases.

Real Truck - athlete investors included Dak Prescott, George Kittle, CJ McCollum, Jason Kelce, Dustin Brown, Byron Jones, and Beau Allen

Virgin Voyages: Venus Williams, Travis Kelce, and C.C. Sabathia

Daily Harvest: Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Jared Goff, Trea Turner, and Kemba Walker.

PCO was founded by serial entrepreneur Mark Patricof and has an internal team of over 12+ members.

Since its inception, they’ve had 3 successful exits and are currently holding more than 15 investments in their portfolio.

Some of these include:

• TopGolf

• SpaceX

• Orgain

• Kodiak

• Sweetwater

• Cholula Hot Sauce

The current setup is a win-win for all parties (especially the athletes who save time and are granted access to private investment opportunities).

Daily Harvest

Why did they want athlete investors?

“Joining forces with values-aligned world-class athletes allows us to amplify our mission,” said Daily Harvest Founder and CEO Rachel Drori.

Previously valued at $380M, Daily Harvest was backed early on by a host of athlete and celebrity investors, including Serena Williams, Shaun White, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Bobby Flay.

With the new funding of $77M, the company is now valued at $1.1B.

Here’s what 6x NBA all-star Blake Griffin had to say about his new investment:

"Throughout my career, I've continued to evolve how best to take care of my body and discovering Daily Harvest was a game changer for me. With this investment, I look forward to working closely with Rachel and the Daily Harvest team to help educate the next generation on the impact - on our bodies and the planet - of eating more organic fruits and vegetables every day.”

Athletes Investing in Plant-Based Options

Over the last few years, we’ve seen a wave of athletes go vegan and then invest in the plant-based selection they’re consuming on a daily basis.

Beyond Meat is the most notorious:

• Kyrie Irving

• Chris Paul

• Deandre Hopkins

• Shaquille O’Neal

• Lindsey Vonn

• Harrison Barnes

• Shaun White

• Eric Bledsoe

• Victor Oladipo

• Maya Moore

• J.J. Redick

• DeAndre Jordan

• JaVale McGee

Vegan beverage drink maker Koia has an array of athlete investors including Chris Paul, Chris Middleton, Kyler Murray, and Josh Bell.

Cam Newton invested in plant-based chicken startup Daring Foods.

I plan on diving deeper in a separate email about this growing trend of athletes becoming investors, ambassadors, and advocates for plant-based food companies.

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Happy Wednesday and thanks for reading today!

It’s June already 👀

Peace,

AP

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