Aysha Diallo
Dec 10, 2025
Sports Investor Apex Launches Fund for Unsung Teams, Leagues
By Aysha Diallo
Sports investment firm Apex is launching a new fund dedicated to acquiring smaller assets, highlighting the increasingly competitive nature of the industry at a time of soaring valuations.
This new vehicle intends to take minority stakes in European sports assets, such as teams and leagues, that are valued between €50 million and €500 million, according to a recent statement.
Apex’s previous investors include more than 100 athletes, including Formula 1 drivers Carlos Sainz and new champion Lando Norris, who invested in a previous fund. It’s made previous investments in BWT Alpine Formula 1 Team, Venezia Football Club and the Tiger Woods-backed TGL, an indoor golf competition.
Investments in sports assets have boomed in recent years as institutional money became a bigger player and professional leagues loosened ownership rules. That’s sent many valuations soaring, and now Apex sees opportunity in the lower end of the market where there has been less interest — so far.
“It’s an untapped segment of the market,” Antonio Cacorino, Apex’s chief executive officer and co-founder, said in an interview. “In terms of size, we want to go one or two layers before large cap and the fact that there’s less competition makes it much more appealing for us.”
Cacorino said the new fund is ready to deploy and has commitments in place. He didn’t comment on how much money is in the fund or its first investment.
This year marked a historic period for private equity-backed transactions in the sector. Private equity and venture capital-backed deals in sports services totaled $6 billion globally in the first three quarters of 2025, the highest in at least eight years, according to a report from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“The valuations in the higher market value professional sports are developed,” said Shana Sissel, CEO of Banrion Capital Management, an alternative investments access platform. “It’s a pretty mature ecosystem in terms of investment opportunities and investment dollars.”
Earlier this week, KKR & Co. entered talks to acquire a majority stake in Arctos Partners, one of the earlier movers in sports investing. Cacorino said the large valuations of sports assets serve as validation for the sector. That includes the blockbuster deals that have been made in the US and top firms like Apollo Global Management Inc. and Ares Management Corp. pushing into the sports investment space.
More funds could start looking at smaller assets, according to Sissel.
“Sports is competitive by design” she said. “And similarly the investors in the space also become competitive.”