From time to time, I like to give a little “behind the scenes” on some of our companies. This post is focused on one of our portfolio companies…Open Sponsorship. The picture above is a tweet from Founder, Ishveen Anand. When I first met Ishveen, I knew we would make a great team. She understands our investment philosophy…At Rosecliff, we don’t just invest in companies, we help build them. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs achieve greatness. We see potential for huge success here, and we know we can build a long term relationship with Ishveen and the Open Sponsorship team.

Ishveen comes across as confident, driven, and hard working. She is passionate about her company and works very hard. She has created a unique business model at Open Sponsorship, which we love here at Rosecliff. The company provides a platform for connecting sponsors with sports athletes. It is currently being funded by the prestigious  500 Startups venture capital seed fund and accelerator out of Silicon Valley. Ishveen is featured in Forbes Sports 30 under 30 list at number 2. She graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in Economics and Management. Ishveen also has hands on experience in the sports management industry. She spent 6 years as a successful sports agent, closing multi-million dollar deals. Ishveen is a leader and set to be a pioneer in the startup industry.

So let’s talk a little more about open sponsorship…

Sponsorships are to sports, as funding is to startups. Every single sports rights holder (team, event, athlete, league, and stadium) needs to attain sponsorship. At Open Sponsorship, there is an open platform for both sponsors and right holders to negotiate and make a deal with each other. It is the first online platform that is focused on allowing companies to search, connect, and sponsor opportunities within professional sports. Their main goal is to “create an efficient and effective forum for sponsorship by bringing all types of rights holders together so corporates, regardless of size and scope, can plan and implement their sponsorship strategies using Open Sponsorship.”

The market space and industry for sports sponsorship is a $21.4 billion industry. This is just the beginning; we see this market space growing at an exponential rate in the next few years. The mobile ad spending by sports brands increased by 489% last year alone. Check out who is already on the Open Sponsorship platform and the milestones the company has reached…

If you have not already checked out Open Sponsorship, please do. Remember, you don’t have to be a superstar or professional athlete. You can be a regular person with a 9-5 job, but you have a passion and gift that may catch the attention of a sponsoring company. Stay tuned for news regarding Open Sponsorship, and if you have any questions feel free to reach out to us or the team at Open Sponsorship. You can follow all their moves @opensponsorship on @twitter.

Until next time…

-Murf