Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Accenture will eliminate 19,000 jobs, Beyoncé and Adidas sever ties, and a $100 million fund will invest in women’s sports. Have a mindful Monday.
– Game on. Advocates for women’s sports know that there is interest in the women’s game, paying attention to factors like the gulf between the accessibility of watching a National Women’s Soccer League game on TV and the millions of fans who follow those players on social media.
But it can be hard to translate potential into dollars—especially when constantly compared to the men’s game. Women’s sports altogether earn less than $1 billion in revenue (excluding the Olympics), less than 1% of revenue on the men’s side.
A new fund launching today is seeking to capitalize on the potential of women’s sports. Kara Nortman, a former managing partner at Upfront Ventures, and Jasmine Robinson, a former partner at VC firm Causeway and ex-executive at the San Francisco 49ers, are debuting Monarch Collective. The $100 million fund will invest in women’s sports, from teams and leagues to adjacent revenue streams like media and gaming.
“We believe it’ll be the only focused strategy of that type in the market,” Nortman says. The fund already has the support of a group of advisors and investors from both athletics and Silicon Valley, including Softbank’s Lydia Jett, Forerunner’s Kirsten Green, and Becca Roux, head of the U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association.
In addition to her work as an investor, Nortman was a founder of Angel City FC, the Los Angeles-based women’s soccer team cofounded by Natalie Portman. “What is needed to grow and scale women’s sports is like any business—you need real capital flowing into the ecosystem,” Nortman says. Nortman and Robinson hope that a dedicated $100 million fund will be that game-changer for the whole ecosystem.
They haven’t written their first checks yet. But they’re targeting “creative dealmaking” that accounts for the needs of teams and leagues receiving checks, from soccer and basketball to volleyball and rugby. They’ll work to bring in operators who understand the scale of the men’s game—but are open to innovation on the more nascent women’s side. They aim to develop content and programming for women’s sports fans and bring in advertisers beyond brands like Nike and Heineken that dominate men’s sports and that will speak to female consumers who control 80% of household spending.
Comparisons to men’s sports can be frustrating for operators trying to build and scale leagues like the NWSL and the WNBA. But the sheer size of the men’s sports market provides some upside for Monarch Collective’s founders as they debut a new kind of fund. “Even if the market is only 10% of the men’s side, that’s huge,” Nortman says.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Take two. Jenny Qian was the CEO of China's Luckin Coffee, an aspiring Starbucks competitor until it collapsed amid an accounting scandal. The former CEO is now trying again with another coffee chain named Cotti—short for biscotti. Bloomberg
- Consulting cuts. Accenture, led by CEO Julie Sweet, is laying off 19,000 employees as the consulting industry reckons with a down economy. The cuts will affect 2.5% of Accenture's workforce. Fortune
- Floodgates open. National Labor Relations Board general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo wrote in a memo last week that a February ruling limiting the scope of non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements should apply retroactively. The ruling would allow employees to speak up about misconduct and other experiences in their former workplaces. Vice
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Gaby Sulzberger has been elected as the new chair of the board of trustees for Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind Sesame Street. Fleet management company Motive has brought Carolyn Patterson as chief people officer.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Useful amendment. Wyoming Republicans amended their state's constitution in 2012 to protest former President Barack Obama's health care reform, adding to the document that "each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions." A judge relied on the still-active amendment last week to block a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony. Vox
- Leaving formation. Beyoncé and Adidas are reportedly ending their partnership involving the star's athleisure brand, Ivy Park. But that may not mean the end for Ivy Park. Beyoncé is looking to "reclaim her brand, chart her own path, and maintain creative freedom." The Hollywood Reporter
- Couples counseling. Couples and business partners alike rely on Esther Perel, perhaps the world's most famous couples therapist, to help them navigate relationships. Perel is the therapy world's version of a "crossover breakthrough artist" as she builds a following and a brand outside the confines of traditional therapy. New York Times
ON MY RADAR
How to Keep House While Drowning completely changed how I think about mess Romper
Audie Cornish's long struggle to remake the news The New Yorker
Muslim women share how their beauty routines change during Ramadan Glamour
PARTING WORDS
"If we don’t stand in the way, we may as well be joining the attack."
—Nebraska State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who filibustered every bill in the state's legislative session to stop anti-trans legislation
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