🔊 Banned For Life 🚫

📰 TOP STORY
Jontay Porter Receives Permanent Ban From The NBA For Gambling Violations

• Toronto Raptors Player Jontay Porter Is Banned From The NBA For Life. On Wednesday, The NBA issued a lifetime ban to Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter for violating league gambling rules. After an investigation, the league found Porter guilty of "disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games." The 24-year-old Porter, who is the younger brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., went undrafted in 2019 and made his NBA debut with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2021. Fun fact, he joins a list of 12 other players who have been permanently banned from the league for gambling including Ralph Beard, Alex Groza, Norm Mager, Alvin Roth, Gene Melchiorre, Bill Spivey, Ed Warner, Sherman White, Jack Molinas, Tony Jackson, Doug Moe, and Roger Brown all of which were banned before 1970 (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Gemini Sports Analytics Raises Another Multi-Million Dollar Round

• Gemini Sports Analytics Raises $3.1 Million In Funding. The round was led by Will Ventures with participation from existing investors Eberg Capital and Social Leverage after the latter two anchored a $3.25 million Seed Round in August 2023. Gemini is leading the charge in a new era of sports analytics, merging cutting-edge technology with deep industry knowledge to empower and enhance decision-making in sports (more here).

• Infinite Reality Acquires Stakes For $8 Million In Stock To Build Immersive Experiences. Infinite Reality, maker of AI-powered immersive experiences such as social sports platforms, has acquired Stakes for $8 million in stock. The all-stock transaction values Infinite Reality at $3 billion and Stakes at $8 million (more here).

• Winklevoss Twins Become Co-owners Of Bitcoin Soccer Club With A $4.5 Million Investment. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have joined as co-owners of Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack’s Real Bedford Football Club (RBFC) after investing $4.5 million worth of Bitcoin to support the club’s plans (more here).

• These NBA Legends Are Investing $230K To Propel Black Youth & Entrepreneurs. Led by NBA legends Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade, the Social Change Fund United (SCFU) is investing $230,000 into two new initiatives to help uplift the Black community (more here).

• Screen Skinz Raises $1.5 Million Seed. The company produces custom, patent-pending phone screen protectors that feature personalized logos or slogans that are visible when the phone screen is black and then disappear when the phone is in use. Customers can create their own designs or pick from the company’s existing catalog. Screen Skinz already holds licenses with various big-name brands, working with organizations such as the NFL and NBA and entertainment brands like Marvel and the WWE (more here).

• FedEx To Fund $25 Million For Memphis NIL. This is believed to be the largest corporate partnership with athletes. The investment will cover $5 million in NIL contracts for Memphis athletes for five straight years (more here).

• Andreessen Horowitz Raises $7.2 Billion. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced that it has raised $7.2 billion to invest across several tech sectors, including gaming and artificial intelligence (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Greenfly Signs Multi-Year Partnership With The NBA

• Greenfly Strikes Global Multi-Year Deal With NBA To Power Content Workflows. Greenfly will continue elevating the industry-leading digital and social media initiatives by the NBA on a global scale. NBA Equity, the investment arm of the league, also invested in the company as part of Greenfly’s most recent funding round (more here).

• Just Women’s Sports & National Women’s Soccer League Renew Media Partnership For 2024 Season. Just Women’s Sports (JWS), the leading multimedia platform dedicated exclusively to women's sports, announced it’s teaming up with the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) for the third consecutive year as an official media partner. For partnership details read (more here).

• Adidas & Stepn Partner Up On NFT Sneakers. Adidas has partnered with Stepn, a move-and-earn app, to introduce a limited-edition, non-fungible token sneaker collection. The collection includes 1,000 digital items inspired by Adidas running designs. The NFT collection will be the first of multiple co-branded activities during a one-year partnership between the two companies which will include other NFT drops and physical, wearable items (more here).

• UAE Pro League Embraces Web3 With Chiliz Partnership For Immersive Fan Experiences. This collaboration aims to supercharge fan experiences and increase the popularity of the premier professional football league in the United Arab Emirates through innovative blockchain-enabled solutions (more here).

🔊 OTHER SPORTS NEWS
These NBA Legends Team Up To Lead New Fund

• The 13 Top Investors & Fund Managers Pouring Money Into The Next 'Big Opportunity' In Sports. See Business Insider's list of investors from Wall Street to Silicon Valley looking to spend big to win from surging interest in women's sports (more here).

• DivInc Selects Companies For Spring 2024 Sports Tech Accelerator In Houston. DivInc has selected 10 companies to join its Spring 2024 Sports Tech Accelerator, attempting to tap into a broadening market of sports technology (more here).

• The Gap Between Caitlin Clark's WNBA Salary & Her Male Counterparts' Draws Outrage. Clark will pocket $338,056 over four years under her contract with the Indiana Fever. In contrast, last year's No. 1 NBA draft pick secured a $55 million four-year contract (more here).

• Caitlin Clark Nearing Endorsement Deal With Nike. Indiana Fever rookie phenom Caitlin Clark — the No. 1 pick in Monday’s WNBA draft — is nearing a lucrative, eight-figure endorsement deal with Nike. Clark is expected to receive a signature Nike shoe as well (more here).

• Waterdrop Using Tennis As Global Growth Strategy As Players Invest. Waterdrop was launched in Europe in 2016 as the first with dissolvable, sugar-free hydration cubes meant to promote sustainable hydration. Waterdrop welcomed an investment from Djokovic in 2023 and in April added six new tennis stars as investors, including Fritz, Elina Svitolina, Sebastian Korda, Andrey Rublev, Hubert Hurkacz, and Cameron Norrie(more here).

• Private Equity Firms Prepare For NFL Opportunities. The NFL is moving toward allowing private equity firms to invest in NFL teams. And private equity firms are getting ready to pounce (more here).