Jeff Bezos, Drake, and others invest $80 million in a sports media company

Sports media company Overtime most recently secured $80 million in a funding round including Jeff Bezos’s investment firm, legendary rapper Drake, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, among others.

The round was led by Sapphire Sport. Other investors in the round include Bezos Expeditions, global investment firm Blackstone, Morgan Stanley, and several NBA players including Devin Booker, Kyla Thompson, and Trae Young.

The media company prides itself in distributing original sports content on social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat. It also sells clothing with its logo and branding. The funding comes after Overtime announced a paid basketball league for young players, more than a month ago.

“The breadth and diversity of this investment group, including leaders from business, entertainment, technology, and sports, speaks to Overtime’s remarkable growth and our future trajectory,” said co-founder and CEO Dan Porter, in a statement. “We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg, as we develop new ways for Overtime to engage with and entertain the next generation of athletes and fans.”

The company says it plans to use the funds to expand its operations including building internal capabilities around non-fungible tokens (NFTs), develop content and community to develop sports betting for the next generation, and improve its sports app where fans can get scores, stats, insights, and other juicy information. A portion of the fund will go towards better player salaries and hiring over 80 league employees for Overtime Elite.

To date, Overtime says it has raised roughly $140 million. The Brooklyn-based companies made headlines in March after it announced its new program Overtime Elite, a basketball league for 16 to 18-year-olds allowing them to earn at least $100,000 per year. For now, players who join the program are not eligible for collegiate-level play. If OTE players do not seek a professional basketball career, the OTE will provide an additional $100,000 for their college tuition. OTE investors include Portland Trail Blazers Carmelo Anthony, Brooklyn Nets Kevin Durant, and Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.

“Overtime has built an unrivaled brand and global community from scratch in just five years. This fundraise reflects the incredible growth opportunities associated with such a market-leading position, including the opportunity to bring Overtime Elite into the world,” Michael Spirito, partner at Sapphire Sport.