Alchemy Global launched a Sports and Entertainment Crowdfunding Platform for Accredited Investors today in Charleston, South Carolina. The Sports Techie community blog chatted with Andy Brusman, Founder and CEO at Alchemy Global Holdings, LLC about his startup, their space in the finance Industry and more business expansion strategy. Together with sports legends Greg Norman, Jim Courier and Boris Becker who have transformed into successful Entrepreneurs and highly accomplished sport and finance executives, their first three client companies to launch on the Alchemy portal will be announced in the coming weeks. The great finish line starts here.
Alchemy Global
Alchemy Global, the first crowdfunding platform in the Sports and Entertainment market matching accredited investors with growth companies, today formally launched with the closing of its investment round. Alchemy brings a powerful blend of experienced brand and company builders along with managerial, financial and capital market expertise to make a significant difference in the success rate of companies in sports and entertainment.
“There are an immense number of smart, unique businesses whose founders and leaders are needing a better solution to raise capital more efficiently, plus are in need of additional expertise to implement their growth strategy. Our leadership team will guide these passionate individuals through their capital raise, while also providing a wealth of know-how that will help them grow faster and more effectively than ever anticipated,” said Andy Brusman, CEO of Alchemy Global, who brings a strong entrepreneurial background in sports and finance.
“The JOBS Act has allowed us to create an investment portal that provides accredited investors access to our client companies, who have been through a thorough diligence process with us. We complement this with a service model that extends beyond the raise; one that is operationally intensive, with a global network that enables significant growth opportunities for our clients. In short, we deliver capital, connections and collaboration to our clients, which rewards our investors and grows the business of sports and entertainment.”
Andy specializes in strategic advisory services for professional athletes and entertainers; capital raising (equity, mezzanine and senior debt); principal investing in sports and entertainment companies; licensing agreements.
The Alchemy Global team has decades Industry relevant expertise helping companies raise capital, develop brands, expand business operations and increase financial performance within the sports and entertainment markets. The founders bring operational and financial expertise to every transaction, and typically work with clients over the course of several years to help execute the growth plan. Alchemy is agile, helping you with everything from growth capital and buyouts to acquisitions and partnerships. Alchemy is diligent, seeking and developing product differentiation, leadership potential and strong financial performance in their clients. Alchemy is focused in sports and entertainment, with consumer products, services, content creation, media, intellectual property and real estate as verticals.
How They Can Help You
They have the first online full-service investment platform dedicated to the sports and entertainment industry, bringing deep industry knowledge, connections and experience, leading to exceptional results for our partners.
Their proprietary and highly curated platform finds the highest quality sports and entertainment companies, then works diligently to add value to their bottom line. In addition to facilitating the investment process, they take an active role in Alchemy companies. Management and advisors often step in as interim company executives, take active board positions and dig in deep with the company—helping to provide value—not just investment dollars. Add to this our network of entertainers and athletes, as well as our investor connections, and you have a recipe for success.
If You’re an Investor
Alchemy Global is a Regulation D investment platform, that caters to sophisticated accredited investors seeking investments with the highest quality companies within the sports and entertainment industry. After company selection, they take an active role in growing the companies they work with, creating an environment where company leadership is mentored and groomed for success. Their experienced group of executives, entrepreneurs, athletes and entertainers remain intimately involved in the process, even after funding has been facilitated. Having the right people, with the right connections, who have been through the process typically creates winning outcomes for their investors and companies.
If You Own a Business
As a company/entrepreneur, they bridge the gap between your vision and current state of performance. They can explore and define specific business model options, such as strategic partnerships, joint ventures and licensing, source talent and firms for branding, product creation, marketing, sales and logistics and bring capital to boot.
If You’re an Athlete/Entertainer
They work with athletes and entertainers as partners, helping guide them in the process of development. Many of their partners are ready to take on their next challenge and are not looking just for the next endorsement deal. They want to join a winning team, collaborating to build significant businesses.
Investors – Advisors
In order to be effective assisting entrepreneurs as well as established companies, Alchemy has assembled a group of influential investors/advisors, including:
- Greg Norman, a leading investment partner and one of the first athletes who used his brand, moniker and success as the World’s number one golfer for 331 weeks on the PGA Tour to create a leading global sports and lifestyle products conglomerate, Great White Shark Enterprises.
- Jim Courier, another elite athlete who parlayed one of the world’s most successful professional careers on the ATP Tour into a highly lucrative event and media business, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment, as well as serving as the current captain of the US Davis Cup team.
- Boris Becker, former world number one tennis player who has launched successful brands in the tennis consumer marketplace as well being one of Europe’s most influential sports personalities.
- Todd Ruppert, a highly networked global executive and entrepreneur, currently CEO of RTR International and former CEO of T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services.
- Steve Peck, a technology visionary who has driven business transformation and innovation with the largest brands in the world across several industries including sports and entertainment.
- Russ Lindsay, a leading entertainment figure, co-founder of UK talent agency James Grant, and currently founder and CEO of Infinity Creative Media Ltd. Russ has managed many of the UK’s top television personalities including Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan.
- Terry Byrne, who has had a long distinguished career in soccer and is currently the Chairman of 1966 Entertainment Ltd, which manages the England Football Team’s commercial rights. Terry has worked extensively in soccer for over twenty years, including a five-year period as Personal Manager to David Beckham.
Along with these accomplished individuals is an incredible group of veteran executives, led by:
- Peter Ruppe, Alchemy President. As part of Ruppe’s highly accomplished 27 year career at Nike, he led Nike’s global basketball business for nearly a decade. He worked closely with Michael Jordan, and pioneered Nike’s shift to separate Jordan into an independent brand. After Nike, he worked with Pete Carroll on the development of his coaching platform, WinForever.
- Chris Flannery, Operating Partner, IP and Licensing. Flannery was the President of Ripken Baseball Group and also part of the group who acquired and manages the global IP assets of Pele’.
- Bill Moses, Operating Partner, Digital Media and Technology. Moses is a technology and digital media expert with a rich experience set including a long tenure with IBM’s sports technology group, as well as stints with the NFL and NHL.
“The Alchemy team brings significant experience in building brands, products, and companies. Through their success at both start-up ventures and established companies, the team understands how to execute on a holistic strategy – fusing together the combination of people, products and processes to generate successful businesses,” Greg Norman added. “While the current universe of funding platforms focuses solely on raising capital, Alchemy takes a hands-on operational role, helping clients implement a sustainable growth strategy. In addition to this operational expertise, the Alchemy network aligns clients with key relationships that impact every stage of the company’s lifecycle. It is as unique a business proposition as you will find in sports and entertainment today, and I am very excited to be a part of it.”
Currently Funding
Storelli Sports
Storelli is the first and only brand focused exclusively on designing and manufacturing innovative protective gear for soccer. Storelli has the rare opportunity to a) create a completely new category in the sports market, and b) own this category in stores and minds of consumers. To date, despite limited resources and no marketing, Storelli has attracted thousands of adopters at the youth / amateur levels in Europe and the US, in addition to serving world-class professional players (see pics). With an injection of capital and the resources required for marketing and R&D, Storelli is positioned to become the newest and next big brand in soccer.
Apera Bags
Apera is the only bag company focused on fitness, the world’s biggest sport. By doing so, Apera has created an entirely new bag category supporting the fitness lifestyle. Worldwide, $19 Billion is spent on fitness and sport bags. And with more than 1 Billion total fitness bags sold in the U.S. annually, Apera is the only healthy and intelligently organized fitness bag embracing an active lifestyle.
Apera bags are healthy, thanks to antimicrobial product protection that resists bacterial odor (inside and out), vented compartments, wipeable linings, and a washable insert to keep sweaty/wet items separate. Apera bags feature superior functionality, with dedicated and smart storage areas for electronics, accessories, clothing, shoes, and wet items. Launched in 2012 by bag industry veterans Andy Youngs and Frank Steed, Apera has achieved rapid and remarkable growth in less than two years.
110% Play Harder
110% is a private athletic and clinical consumer products company headquartered out of Jacksonville, Florida, and founded by passionate endurance athletes. 110%’s mission is to give athletes and consumers the ability to recover faster and play harder by providing them with tools for better performance, injury prevention and rehabilitation in a simple yet effective mobile solution. Through unique integrated pocket architecture,110%’s patent pending line of compression and ice/heat products combines the benefits of medical gradient and zoned compression with the elemental power of ice and heat therapy, representing the next step forward in recovery and performance training gear. 110% also offers premium performance apparel, medical gradient compression socks and branded lifestyle offerings.
ABOUT ALCHEMY GLOBAL
Alchemy, headquartered in Charleston, SC with offices in Portland, Baltimore, New York and London, is the first dedicated investment web portal focused on Sports and Entertainment. Through this portal, the company will facilitate funding and business solutions for companies in sports and entertainment, which include consumer products, services, content creation, media, intellectual property, wellness and technology.
The company’s management team has direct experience and expertise in building businesses around athletes and entertainers like Michael Jordan, David Beckham, Cal Ripken, Jr., Pete Carroll, Pele and Montel Williams. The company will leverage this expertise in developing product differentiation, diversified customer bases, strong management and financial performance for its clients.
Alchemy Global, LLC, works with companies, athletes & entertainers, providing Advisory Services and Capital Raising on a global basis. The founders bring operational and financial expertise to every transaction, and typically work with clients over the course of several years to help execute the growth plan. The firm is highly entrepreneurial, with employees and operating partners based in Charleston, SC; Baltimore, MD; Washington, DC; Portland, OR; New York, NY and London, UK.
To learn more about Alchemy Global, visit www.alchemyglobal.com.
Sports Techie, Andy is now seeking out accredited investors who believe in the space after seven months of development. His dream of a sports focused investment banking company has arrived using, “The Dick Cheney Process,” of founding his dream sportsbiz by leveraging his sports networks to create a community of accredited investors.
Connecting with influencers is a marketing trend that helps companies introduce themselves and products in a more impactful and measureable way. I enjoy blogging about sports tech, hopefully, this exposure to the active Alchemy Group investment membership and portfolio ripe with sports technology companies to back is of interest to some of our readers.
On the other side, their investment sweet spot is in the $3 to $10 million deal space range if you are raising a series of funding. They are keen on uncovering post-revenue opportunities in the 1-2 year range, pre revenue companies are a harder class to invest in, according to Brusman. They are hot after companies with consumer facing products, digital media, and health and wellness, along with expertise in an Industry.
How much equity is exchanged depends on the situation, shared Brusman. A proper valuation will look at a company’s growth prospects, management team and other key economic and social factors.
“Crowd funding is large and getting bigger,” said Andy. Their crowdfunding platform focuses on raising capital from investors on a deal by deal basis and unlike other sites that control the companies, they offer a curated approach after a thorough examination. Deals can take up to 6 months to complete and reach the market; some can be fast-forwarded in the 2-month range.
Legislators are rewriting Title III so it will allow non-accredited crowdfunding which Andy expects to pass in the in the next 6 months or so. “Our Title II platform uses no rewards and we are not an accelerator or incubator,” says Brusman. They are not making movies for individual movie projects in the entertainment space; rather they are in business of raising capital from accredit investors while adding value to sports and entertainment properties.
Their impressive team of Ultra Sports Techie managerial talent has fully supported the creation of this new platform that has deal-flow opportunities. Their President has the work track record and personal relationships in place to be a difference maker for those who work together with the Alchemy Group. Their advisor group liked the name Alchemy because of the focus it presented. Selection of the homepage horse racing picture was made due to the competitive aspect of the image but it was not science, said Andy.
I asked him what happens after today’s launch. He answered, “The grinding never stops, the real-work begins.” There is a new deal in works with a European racing team. One possible accredited investor I asked him about was Thomas Ravenel, one of the stars of the “Southern Charm” TV show on Bravo. I met Thomas inside a Charleston bar in 2012 and told him all about the Sports Techie vision over a few drinks while he shared with as much as he legally could about his new project in the works that turned out to be the show. Ravenel might also be a good lead for a polo product since he is a world-class player and very connected with the sport and sponsors.
The investor universe is looking for active engagement and opportunities for growth. The Jobs Act, Title II and Title III are designed to accelerate that process. As a result, Alchemy Global is eager to talk with you Sports Techie entrepreneurs, please contact them at [email protected].
I will see ya when I see ya, THE Sports Techie @THESportsTechie – http://twitter.com/THESportsTechie
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