GTCR announced it has formed Ascent Sports Group in partnership with Gary Swidler, the former COO/COO/president of dating apps parent company Match Group.
ASG is “a new technology platform designed to improve experiences for athletes, families, coaches, teams, leagues and venue owners across youth and amateur sports.”
Swidler will be the CEO.
GTCR is partnering with Mr. Swidler to pursue opportunities in a large, fragmented market where constituents often rely on multiple, disconnected solutions to participate in, follow, and engage with sports. Ascent Sports Group will focus on investing in products and services that simplify these experiences, improve accessibility, and better connect sports communities through technology.
Mr. Swidler (...) will work closely with GTCR to identify, partner with, and build companies that enhance how youth and amateur sports are played, watched, and shared.
"There is so much we can do to bring high quality game streams, simplified team sign-ups and communication, advanced analytics, video highlights and more to the youth and amateur sports world," Swidler said on LinkedIn. "We will be aggressively pursuing investments and hiring great talent to make this vision a reality."
GTCR said it currently manages about $50B in equity capital.
This is the second new youth sports tech endeavor helmed by a Match Group alum in the last week — Otto Sport AI CEO Luke Zaientz also spent time there previously; he and Swidler did not overlap.
The takeaway? Infrastructure and tech is the hot place to be in the industry with an emphasis on platforms and tools that connect and engage users.
It sounds like ASG will need to make a few acquisitions to get rolling and it clearly has money on hand. Did we just find a new contender for SportsEngine?
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Good game.