Athlete-led venture capital firm The Players Fund has invested in Hana Kuma, the production company co-founded by tennis star Naomi Osaka.
The Players Fund launched last August, with England men’s cricketers Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer among its backers. The firm added a cohort of female athletes as partners in December, including Olympic gold medallists Jessica Ennis-Hill and Allyson Felix, as well as England soccer players Nikita Parris and Danielle Carter. All told, the firm’s collective consists of more than 50 sportspeople.
Hana Kuma, which bills itself as a ‘next-generation content platform’, raised an initial US$5 million in a 2023 seed round. Its credits include Emmy-nominated New York Times op-doc Mink, the Bloomberg original Footsteps, and the video podcast Good Trouble With Nick Kyrgios.
“We are thrilled to welcome The Players Fund as an investor in Hana Kuma,” said Osaka. “Their extensive network of elite athletes from all backgrounds aligns perfectly with our mission to uplift diverse voices and perspectives through innovative storytelling.”
Fergus Bell, managing partner at The Players Fund added: “What Naomi, Stuart [Duguid, Osaka’s agent] and the team at Springhill are building with Hana Kuma shall be the framework for diverse storytelling for years to come. We have waited a long time for a female athlete-led content platform and believe that with The Players Fund’s global network, we can truly accelerate the Hana Kuma roadmap alongside partners such as Epic Games, Fenway Sports Group, Nike and LeBron James.”
By SportsProMedia
