Venture capital for athlete founders.

    Find your life’s work.

    We back current and former college and professional athletes building their next thing, from pre-seed through Series A. The game ends. The work doesn’t.

    Not sure yet? See how it works

    Two ways in.

    Whether you’re building the company or backing the ones who do, there’s a single next step.

    5

    Athlete-founded companies backed

    First checks

    Written and led on every deal

    Pre-seed → Series A

    Where we invest

    Reg D 506(c)

    How the syndicate is structured

    What happens when the game ends.

    Athletes Fund was founded in Arizona by Jeremy Wolf to solve a problem no one was paying attention to. Every year, thousands of college and professional athletes walk away from competition and enter a world that doesn’t know what to do with them. The discipline, resilience, and competitive instinct that defined their lives suddenly have no outlet, and traditional career paths rarely reward the qualities that made them exceptional.

    We believe the transition from athlete to founder is one of the most natural and underserved paths in business. Athletes already know how to perform under pressure, recover from public failure, and build teams around a shared mission. What they lack isn’t ability, it’s access: to capital, to mentorship, to a network that takes them seriously as operators. Athletes Fund exists to close that gap, backing founders from pre-seed through Series A who are building companies rooted in real problems, not slide decks.

    Who’s behind the fund
    Jeremy Wolf

    Jeremy Wolf

    Founder & General Partner

    • Div. III national champion
    • 31st-round MLB draft pick
    • Founder, More Than Baseball
    • Founder, Open Athletes
    Read Jeremy’s story

    Built by someone who lived the exit.

    Jeremy Wolf is a former professional baseball player. He went from a Division III national champion at Trinity University to a 31st-round MLB draft pick to released with nothing, the exact drop-off that ends most athletic careers in silence. Instead of disappearing, he built More Than Baseball into the largest union in professional sports.

    He started Athletes Fund because he had already been the founder no one knew how to back. He writes first checks into athlete-founded companies and leads the diligence on every deal the syndicate sees. The same operator’s eye, pointed at the next generation of athletes building real businesses.

    “I’ve watched too many teammates retire with nothing: no job, no prospects, no idea what’s next. I knew exactly what athletes needed, because I lived it.”

    Jeremy Wolf, Founder

    How Athletes Fund works

    Fast capital and real operators for the founders we back, and a syndicate that lets backers invest alongside us, deal by deal.

    Marcus T.

    Former D1 · Founder

    Backed
    What are you building?

    Capital that moves at your speed

    Pre-seed through Series A checks, plus follow-on. A term sheet in days, not months, because momentum is the whole point.

    Athletes Fund

    Leads the SPV

    Lead check
    Backers co-invest
    One SPV

    Invest alongside us

    Back athlete-founded companies deal by deal. We lead the check and the diligence; you co-invest through a single-deal SPV and share the upside.

    How do I price my round?
    Ask your partner…

    Operators in your corner

    Direct access to partners who've built and sold companies, the coaching athletes are used to, pointed at building instead of competing.

    For accredited backers

    How the syndicate works

    We lead one SPV per deal. Backers, athletes and accredited investors, co-invest alongside us and share the upside.

    01

    We source & lead

    The show surfaces the best athlete-founder deals; we write the lead check and do the work.

    02

    You co-invest

    Accredited backers join through an SPV: low minimums, clean paperwork, one K-1.

    03

    Shared upside

    We take standard carry; you own your pro-rata. Our track record compounds in public.

    Join the syndicate

    Add your name to the backer list. When a deal fits, verified-accredited backers get a private invitation.

    We never post live or open deals publicly. Joining adds you to the backer list only; verified-accredited investors are invited to specific deals privately under Reg D 506(c).

    The work behind the fund

    Athletes Fund is the syndicate behind Open Athletes.

    Open Athletes is the community built for people who have dedicated their lives to something and then had to reinvent themselves. It runs on a 1% equity model, no monthly fees, no grants, no charity. Founders get structured mentorship, peers who share the same competitive DNA, and access to Athletes Fund capital and the backers who invest alongside it. We only win when they win.

    Visit Open Athletes
    Our track record

    Built by athletes, for the real world.

    Companies addressing real problems with real solutions, backed by founders who would be doing the work whether or not anyone wrote them a check.

    MindReadyMental-health education for athletesPre-seedMore Than BaseballProtecting the wellbeing of ballplayers everywherePre-seedThe Marvelous CompanyHealth insurance agency operationsPre-seedAuuditMarketing and experiences for the 22nd centuryPre-seedOpen AthletesCollective action for athlete-foundersPre-seed
    New to venture capital? Read the glossary

    So, what are you going to do now.

    Building something real? Apply for backing. Want to invest alongside us? Join the syndicate.