The Secret Venture Capital Firm Backed By The Biggest Stars In Sports & Entertainment

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Friends,

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ resume is full of accolades.

The former first round pick is a super bowl champion, a 2x NFL most valuable player, and has the highest passer rating of any quarterback in NFL history. Furthermore, a solid argument could be made that Aaron Rodgers has more arm talent than any quarterback that has ever played the game.

But did you know he is also quietly building a celebrity funded venture capital firm?

With over $240M in career football earnings alone, the quarterback wanted a better avenue to invest his money, given his unique ability to also serve as an influencer for the companies he acquired equity in.

As it turns out, he wasn’t the only one…

In June of 2019, Aaron Rodgers teamed up with Byron Roth, CEO and cofounder of Roth Capital Partners, and Nate Raabe, the former head of Roth’s private capital group, to launch Rx3 Ventures (Source).

What’s Rx3 Ventures?

Here’s an overview directly from their website:

In simple terms, professional athletes are constantly pitched investment opportunities but typically lack the resources to appropriately vet each company. There has historically been a massive disconnect in a celebrities ability to efficiently utilize their marketability and fame to increase brand exposure and lower their private valuation entry point. Essentially, celebrities have started to realize they provide a lot of value beyond a check and want to be compensated for that.

This is where Rx3 comes in.

Through Rx3 Ventures, Aaron Rodgers and team are creating an investment platform for celebrities within sports and entertainment to better utilize their celebrity marketability with the backing of institutional resources.

Along with an increase in resources, the size of the fund allows investors to pool together smaller checks and get involved in deals they might not have previously been able to.

Sounds great, but how’s it going?

It’s only been a year but the response has been amazing. Rx3 has attracted a wide range of investors including Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard, former Nascar & Indycar driver Danica Patrick, skateboarder Ryan Sheckler, and about a half-dozen NFL quarterbacks including Sam Darnold of the NY Jets (Source).

When it comes to deploying capital, Rx3 has been just as active. The fund’s typical check size is in the $1 million to $3 million range and they focus on consumer brands where their investors can provide additional value.

In the last year, Rx3 has invested in over 12 companies including premier consumer brands like personal wellness company Hims, fitness lifestyle brand Hydrow, and the convenient beverage brand Super Coffee (Source).

Other investments include (Source):

• Prive Revaux

• Blast

• Corepower Yoga

• Manscaped

• Mack Weldon

• Tocaya Organica

• Hydrant

• Orgain

• NOM NOM

It’s too early in the investment life-cycle to tell how some of these will turn out, but based on the quality of investors alone, the concept of investor & influencer has clearly resonated with celebrities in sports and entertainment.

The idea of athletes in venture capital certainly isn’t new, but Rodgers came up with a unique platform for additional celebrities to get involved. Ultimately, all celebrity investors will eventually realize the value they provide beyond capital and look to be compensated accordingly.

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Extra Credit

Who said you can’t mix business with pleasure?

Now that you know about Aaron Rodgers venture capital investments, let’s check out some highlights. Here’s a good clip of Chris Simms breaking down the 5 most ridiculous plays of Aaron Rodgers’ career.

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