Sharp Alpha, an investment firm specialising in sports, gaming, and entertainment, announced today the closing of a new fund with $150 million to deploy over the next 24 months. The Sharp Alpha UA Fund invests non-dilutive capital into growth-stage companies to accelerate customer acquisition.
The UA Fund targets investments between $4 and $30 million, with interest in larger facilities once a relationship has been established. Sharp Alpha’s managing partner Lloyd Danzig is joined by a team of industry veterans across revenue-based financing, structured products, and quantitative finance.
According to Danzig, online gaming and interactive entertainment businesses are prime candidates for this type of financing. “Unlike traditional equity or venture debt, cohort-based financing aligns capital deployment directly with customer acquisition outcomes. This structure preserves ownership, avoids restrictive covenants, and scales with company growth”
Companies that are profitable or near break-even in the $10 to $100 million revenue range are looking to cohort-based financing as a supplement or replacement for traditional funding because it offers, “a much more economical and long-term advantageous source of capital to companies with favourable payback periods and strong retention”
In addition to non-dilutive financing, Sharp Alpha provides portfolio companies with a comprehensive suite of strategic resources and opportunities spanning software development, brand partnerships, regulatory consulting, proprietary benchmarking, and product launch acceleration.
Commenting on raising the firm’s third fund amidst a challenging backdrop, Danzig explained, “we were blown away by the amount of demand from our existing LPs for this product. Investors seeking venture-like returns have largely been disappointed by actual distributions over the last 5 years.” From an investor standpoint, when properly implemented, “cohort financing can deliver the target IRRs of venture funds, while providing regular cash distributions and eliminating reliance on major liquidity events.”
The Sharp Alpha UA Fund considers a wide range of consumer-facing opportunities but concentrates predominantly on online gaming, prediction markets, sports media, ecommerce, health & wellness, and interactive entertainment.
Existing Sharp Alpha equity investments from prior funds include Triumph Arcade, Courtyard.io, Poolhouse, and Jackpot.com.
More information about Sharp Alpha is available at:
