Good morning! A Democratic senator won’t run for reelection in New Hampshire, Sequoia Capital is interested in Mira Murati’s new venture, and new capital is flowing into women’s sports.
– Ready to invest. Women’s sports are big business. That was doubly proven by Monarch Collective, which this morning announced its fund investing in women’s sports has raised a fresh $100 million to reach $250 million.
Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures is one of the key LPs that injected that $100 million into the fund, alongside individuals from Hello Sunshine, EY, the Rockefeller Foundation, and more. Investor Kara Nortman is behind the fund, which has so far invested in three National Women’s Soccer League clubs: Angel City Football Club (of which Nortman was a cofounder, before the team’s $250 million sale to Willow Bay and Bob Iger; she’s still a minority shareholder separate from Monarch’s investment); the forthcoming BOS Nation FC; and the San Diego Wave. The firm expects to make two to three more investments this year, potentially outside of soccer for the first time.
Nortman says that she spent years thinking about what the right size fund was to invest in teams, leagues, and rights businesses across women’s sports. “What’s happened is the market has evolved, and we’ve got a very interesting portfolio in place,” she says.
Monarch acts as a hands-on investor, joining teams as operators, helping with tasks like finding the right stadium space in Boston. (Most leagues permit ownership of multiple teams, with rules limiting involvement on the sporting side.) It’s also a hands-on partner to its LPs—educating them about the sports landscape as they consider becoming control owners, and finding those opportunities to buy into teams directly. Monarch is Pivotal’s only sports exposure.
Next up, Nortman is looking at Europe, where soccer is massively popular—but women’s soccer is less commercialized. She’s eager to get into women’s basketball, but she aims to use her firm’s time wisely. “The opportunity cost of where we spend time matters a lot in women’s sports, where everybody needs support,” she says.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Senator says. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) will not run for reelection next year, making Democrats’ goal of reclaiming the Senate even more difficult to achieve. Shaheen was the first woman elected as both a U.S. governor and senator. In other news, Lori Chavez-DeRemer was confirmed by the Senate earlier this week as labor secretary, backed by both Democrats and Republicans.
- In talks. Sequoia Capital has been talking to former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati about her new startup’s funding round. Sources told Business Insider that Murati's Thinking Machines Lab is aiming to raise $1 billion at a $9 billion valuation. Bloomberg
- To the Olympic Committee. Over two dozen Republicans in Congress signed a letter calling for the Olympic Committee to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports at the Games; this follows President Donald Trump’s executive order last month barring trans women and girls from playing women’s sports. The Committee typically leaves these rulings to the individual sports’ governing federations. New York Times
- Not in the bag yet. Quilted and patterned bag brand Vera Bradley signed a deal to sell its bracelet business, Pura Vida, in the midst of a transition that “is taking longer than initially anticipated,” according to president and CEO Jackie Ardrey. The company's fourth quarter revenue was down 25% from last year's fourth quarter to $100 million. Also, cofounder Barbara Bradley Baekgaard is leaving the board. Wall Street Journal
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Bianca Gates, cofounder of footwear brand Birdies, will become brand president of KNS International, an e-commerce company that just acquired Birdies.
Triad Partners, a financial services provider, named Jessica Daniels COO. She was formerly the firm’s CHRO.
McAfee, an online protection company, appointed Stephanie Fried as EVP and CMO. Most recently, she was CMO at Fandom.
Hornblower Group, an experiences and transportation company, appointed Lakshmi Williams as chief legal officer and general counsel. Most recently, Williams was general counsel and corporate secretary for North America at Transurban Group.
Venture capital firm Define Ventures appointed Carolyn Magill as a venture partner. Previously, she was CEO of Aetion.
The Blueprint, an executive search firm, named Debra Sercy managing partner. Sercy most recently served as EVP and managing partner at Grace Blue North America.
Schrödinger, a computational platform developer for molecular discovery, appointed Bridget van Kralingen to its board of directors. Currently, she is a senior partner at Motive Partners.
ON MY RADAR
One senator’s lonely quest to make the farm bill more sustainable Grist
What happened to Pat McGrath Labs? Business of Fashion
Chimamanda Adichie is a hopeless romantic The Atlantic
PARTING WORDS
“When I go into my work, I want to go all in. I love working!... I also want to go all in on being a mom. And those two things can’t happen on the same day.”
—Babba Rivera, founder of hair care brand Ceremonia, on balancing work and family
