October Highlights

🟠 At Mara, our mission is to provide the infrastructure to help our clients invest in the most exciting private market opportunities and ground-breaking innovation. This October, we’re proud to showcase some of these deals that illustrate the breadth and ambition we champion.

📢 Aston Martin Racing x The Players Fund

🟠 We’re proud to have facilitated The Players Fund’s strategic investment in Aston Martin Racing, one of Formula 1’s most storied and iconic teams. This partnership represents more than speed – it’s about backing innovation, ambition, and excellence at the pinnacle of global motorsport.

Aston Martin presents an extraordinary opportunity for investors: a historic British marque with serious championship ambitions, backed by a world-class ownership group.

🟠 The Players Fund are investing alongside Arctos Partners, one of the world’s leading sports investment firms, and Kevin Hart, the acclaimed actor and entrepreneur. With significant infrastructure investment and a technical partnership attracting top-tier engineering talent, Aston Martin is positioned to compete at the front of the grid for years to come.

⛳ Motor City Golf Club / TGL

🟠 Building on that same ethos of performance and excellence, we facilitated The Players Fund’s investment in Motor City Golf Club, the 7th franchise in Tomorrow’s Golf League (TGL) – the revolutionary indoor golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

TGL blends cutting-edge, tech-enabled simulators with live putting greens, delivering prime-time team matches that are reimagining golf for a new generation. Each franchise captures meaningful local revenue whilst owning equity in the league itself.

🟠 The Players Fund are proud co-owners alongside the Hamp family (Ford Motor Company dynasty and owners of the Detroit Lions) and Rob Walton (Walmart family and co-owner of the Denver Broncos), giving their community direct exposure to the next generation of golf entertainment, backed by some of America’s most iconic sporting and business families.

🎾 Soul Padel / Lumaca Capital

🟠 From global arenas to local courts, Mara also supports ventures that bring people together. Soul Padel is building a network of accessible, affordable, and covered padel centres across the UK, helping people connect, stay active, and enjoy sport regardless of experience. Soul Padel is redefining participation, wellbeing, and social connection. We’re proud to have partnered with Lumaca Capital to support their investment, backing Soul Padel’s next phase of growth.

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🎥 The Syndicate Playbook Latest Episode: How to Build Your Investment Thesis & Source Quality Deals

🟠 The best syndicates start with a clear investment thesis and a reliable pipeline of great opportunities. In the second episode of our Syndicate Playbook series, four seasoned investors share actionable frameworks for defining your thesis, spotting promising markets, and building relationships that deliver strong deal flow.

🟠 Perfect for emerging managers, family offices, and private investors looking to refine their strategy and elevate their syndicate approach.

👉 Watch the full webinar:

💸 It’s Fundraising Season: Join the First Episode of Mara & Friends

🟠 It’s fundraising season — and we’re kicking it off with something new.

We’re excited to launch Mara & Friends, a new conversation series that brings together voices from across the private markets ecosystem — founders, fund managers, investors, and partners who are shaping the future of capital raising.

🎙️ In our first episode, The Fundraising Frontier, Aleksandra Lazarevic (Mara) sits down with Stevan Markovic (AQVC) to unpack what fundraising really looks like in 2025 — the realities, challenges, and smarter ways to raise capital.

It’s an open, honest conversation about the evolving private markets landscape and how platforms like Mara and AQVC are helping investors and fund managers fundraise with confidence and clarity.

☕ Grab a coffee and watch the full episode here:

Mara Events

🎾 Unlocking Investment Opportunities in the Business of Sport

This month, we gathered at HEC Paris UK House for an inspiring conversation on how passion for sport can translate into powerful investment opportunities.

Our panellists — Gessica Howarth, Samir Beg Ceric, Ruari Bell, and Attila Tóth — explored how innovation, community, and capital are reshaping the business of sport, from athlete-led ventures to emerging technologies.

💡 Watch the highlights or the full discussion to see how investors are moving from the sidelines into the action.

👉
Watch now

At Mara, we believe access unlocks opportunity — and the business of sport is a perfect example of that in motion.

✨ Spotlight: Sifted Summit 2025

🟠 This year’s Sifted Summit was a reminder of what makes the European startup ecosystem so special — the energy, the ideas, and the resilience of its founders. From inspiring workshops with leaders like Andrea Sommer, our client from Womenkind Ventures, to conversations with passionate innovators, every moment was packed with insight, wisdom, and good vibes.

At Mara, we love seeing how AI, creativity, and persistence come together to shape the future of private markets. The Summit was a perfect reflection of that — proof that the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship brings both lessons and inspiration worth sharing.

⚡ Driving Impact Through Creativity & Tech

🟠 Mara supported a panel on Impact Investments at the Barclays Innovation Hub powered by Eagle Labs, bringing together founders, investors, and advisors to explore how impact-focused investments can accelerate creativity and tech — two of the UK’s key competitive strengths.

🟠 The discussion covered government tech strategy, fundraising journeys of founders and women-led start-ups, ways advisors can contribute through mentorship and board roles, operational optimisation, investment trends, and supporting social-impact and women-led enterprises.

🟠 We extend our sincere thanks to our brilliant panellists — Aleksandra Lazarević (Mara), Amira Chanana (Alma Angels), Antonella Cossu (FilmTailor AI), Hannah Elsy (superfanbase), and Robert Maycock (Innovate UK) — and to our moderator, Luba Reynolds (Sales Expand), for guiding such an insightful conversation.

🟠 It was inspiring to see nearly 100 attendees engage, reflecting the growing community committed to building and accelerating impact in tech innovation.