Jeff Bezos, Drake, and Others Invest $80 Million USD Into Overtime's Youth Basketball League
Aiding 16 to 18-year-old basketball players with at least $100,000 USD per year.
The sports media company, Overtime, raised $80 million USD in a Series C fundraising round with investors such as Jeff Bezos’ Bezos Expeditions, Drake, and more.
Overtime publishes original sports content on social media platforms namely Snapchat, Youtube, and Facebook. The media company will be placing a portion of the funds into their basketball league Overtime Elite (OTE) that pays 16 to 18-year-old players at least $100,000 USD per year. OTE was announced back in March and the company has managed to raise more than $140 million USD.
Recently joining the group of investors are NBA stars Devin Booker, Trae Young, Klay Thompson, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Previous investors of OTE are fellow NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, and Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz.
“The breadth and diversity of this investment group, including leaders from business, entertainment, technology, and sports, speaks to Overtime’s remarkable growth and our future trajectory,” co-founder and CEO Dan Porter stated. “We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg, as we develop new ways for Overtime to engage with and entertain the next generation of athletes and fans.”
Currently, OTE players are not eligible for collegiate-level play, but if they do decide not to pursue a professional basketball career, the company will be providing an additional $100,000 USD for their college tuition. Overtime will be using a portion of the recent $80 million USD to support salaries of players and staff, aid league start-up costs, invest in the NFT sector, and enhance its app.
In case you missed it, the UFC is now a publicly traded company.
