Investing in Women’s Sports through Mara

Launched in 2024, Sphera Partners invests across the women’s sports landscape of teams, leagues, federations and ancillary assets. As an under resourced and undercapitalised sector but with surging momentum, passionate fanbases and expanding media deals, the sector is ripe for investment.

In 2024, Sphera set its sights on an ambitious and undercapitalised sector:

Women’s sports. With surging momentum, passionate fanbases, and expanding media deals, the sector was ripe for investment.

Sphera needed a partner who could not only execute quickly but also uphold high compliance standards. Mara stepped in as the operational and regulatory backbone, enabling Sphera to launch its women's sports thesis confidently and enabling Sphera to execute its first deal confidently and scalably.

Challenge

As Sphera was finalising an investment into the UPSHOT League, a basketball league in USA, several challenges emerged:

  • Robust SPV Framework Sphera needed a light touch SPV to aggregate investor capital and earn fees in the process.
  • Quick Execution Sphera needed a partner who could move as quickly as the opportunity required.
  • Complex Tax Issues Late on in the investment process complex tax issues emerged due to the domicile of the target company in the USA, would have added material additional cost to the investment.

Process

  • Collaborative Setup Mara organised multiple calls with the Sphera team prior to getting started, to fully understand the nature of the deal and to answer questions about its structure.
  • Tailored Structuring Mara was able to utilise its network to source a suitable provider to establish a “tax blocker” in Delaware for the investment.
  • Full-Spectrum Support Mara was attentive to specific investors needs during the onboarding process and was able to guide each party through any complexities that arose in a timely manner.

    • Impact and
    value proposition

  • Catalyst for Women’s Sports
  • Investing With Mara’s infrastructure Sphera successfully executed its first investment which is key in building track record for future deals and their prospective fund.
  • Professional set-up Mara presented a professional and efficient set up that gave confidence to the investee company and its advisers.
  • Faster Time to Market Speed and precision in execution enabled Sphera to complete their investment in the required timeframe.
  • Cost-Effective Execution Mara’s all in one solution was far more cost effective than having lawyers advise on a traditional partnership set up for the investment, leaving more income for the Sphera team to grow their business.
  • Enhanced Investor Trust Clear, compliant structures and smooth onboarding deepened investor confidence and engagement.

    • Conclusion

    With mara as structuring partner, Sphera was able to execute its first investment in the women’s sports space and become a first mover in a market that is undergoing significant transformation and experiencing rapid growth. This partnership proves that when operational excellence meets mission-driven capital, breakthrough investing happens.