What Will Ventures does

Will Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Boston, MA, with an additional office in Los Angeles, that invests across the sports, entertainment, and consumer industries. The firm describes itself as "research-backed" and operates a proprietary "Perspectives" content engine — a self-published library of long-form sector theses, market sizing analyses, and an in-house podcast (seven episodes) covering sports, prediction markets, online casino, collectibles, AI in sports, agentic commerce, quantified self, and college sports. Will Ventures' "core technology" is this thesis-publishing platform, which functions as both an inbound deal-flow signal and a category-defining thought-leadership asset for sports and consumer venture.

The firm is led by Co-Founders and Managing Partners Brian Reilly (former Harvard varsity football, ex-MC10 product manager, Sports Innovation Lab Founding Member) and Isaiah Kacyvenski (two Harvard degrees, 8-year NFL career, holder of several personal technology patents), alongside Managing Partner Ben Gardner (formerly of Andreessen Horowitz's consumer GTM platform) and Partner Kushaan Ahuja (ex-Endeavor/TKO Group Holdings venture and growth investments). The 10-person team also includes Partners Aaron Miller and (effectively) additional senior staff, a Principal, a Portfolio Lead (ex-a16z B2C GTM), VPs of Operations/IR and Finance, and an Executive Assistant. As a venture capital firm, Will Ventures' revenue model follows standard industry economics — management fees on committed or invested capital plus carried interest on fund profits — though specific fund size, AUM, fee structure, and LP composition are not publicly disclosed.

Will Ventures' portfolio spans sports tech (Jump, the unified fan experience platform launched with the Minnesota Timberwolves/Lynx; co-led by Seven Seven Six with Drive by DraftKings and Forerunner participating), online casino/iGaming (BetHog, co-led $10M Series A in April 2026 with RockawayX; Betty, an Ontario operator cited as scaling from $0 to a $328M run rate), creator economy/AI marketing (Devotion, co-led $4M seed in March 2026 with Basecase), and adjacent consumer categories. The firm has published theses spanning the US, UK, Israel, India, LATAM (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina), and Asia-Pacific, and participates in a co-investor ecosystem that includes strategic capital partners such as Drive by DraftKings, Forerunner Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Seven Seven Six, RockawayX, and Basecase.

Name

Will Ventures

Legal name

Will Ventures

Website

https://willventures.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Will Ventures is a Boston- and Los Angeles-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in category-defining businesses across sports, entertainment, and consumer, deploying capital alongside a published research platform and an operator-heavy team of ex-NFL, ex-a16z, and ex-Endeavor partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital / Private Equity Investing

NAICS

Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Early-stage sports investing
• Consumer entertainment startups
• Sports technology venture
• Thesis-driven venture capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Fund Economics (Implied): Will Ventures' revenue model is not explicitly disclosed in the source material. As a venture capital firm, the standard industry model would apply (management fees on committed/ invested capital and carried interest on fund profits), but specific economics, fund size, and fee structure are not stated in the supplied sources.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Will Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in category-defining businesses across the sports, entertainment, and consumer industries. The firm deploys capital alongside operator support, leverages a research-driven thesis engine (Perspectives), and accesses a network of leagues, teams, and strategic partners to back 'underdog' founders with high determination.

Product overview

Will Ventures is a venture capital firm (not a software product company) that invests in category-defining businesses across sports, entertainment, and consumer industries. Its offerings center on the Will Ventures Investment Platform — providing capital, diligence, and strategic support to founders — together with its Perspectives research publication, which delivers ongoing thesis-driven market analyses (e.g., on prediction markets, collectibles, agentic commerce, online casinos, and sports tech) that inform its investment theses. The firm does not sell a unified software product or product platform; instead, its two principal "products" are the capital investment platform itself and the research content that underpins it.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Will Ventures Investment Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• Betty portfolio company scaled from $0 to a $328M run rate in under 3 years (Will Ventures thesis benchmark)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core co-investor, informal — talent pipeline, informal — recruiting pipeline and informal — recruiting / talent pipeline.

• Drive by DraftKingscore co-investorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDrive by DraftKings participated in Jump's $25M Series A alongside Will Ventures. As DraftKings' venture arm, the relationship combines capital with strategic distribution into the DraftKings sports-betting and fan-engagement ecosystem, complementing Will Ventures' sportstech thesis.
• Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)informal — talent pipelineOthersNot a formal financial partner, but Managing Partner Ben Gardner previously spent 5+ years at a16z building the consumer team's go-to-market platform, and Portfolio lead Jacob Westphal spent 3.5 years on a16z's B2C Go-To-Market Team after joining Will Ventures in Fall 2024.
• Endeavor / TKO Group Holdingsinformal — talent pipelineOthersNot a formal financial partner, but Partner Kushaan Ahuja previously led venture and growth investments at Endeavor and TKO before joining Will Ventures, bringing sports and entertainment deal relationships.
• MC10informal — talent pipelineOthersNot a formal financial partner, but Co-Founder Brian Reilly was a Founding Member and Director of Product and Research at MC10, and Executive Assistant Lisa Romano previously worked at MC10 as HR and Administration Manager.
• Stanford Graduate School of Businessinformal — recruiting pipelineOthersNot a formal commercial partner, but Partner Aaron Miller joined Will Ventures in July 2024 after graduating from Stanford GSB, indicating a recruiting relationship.
• Harvard Universityinformal — recruiting / talent pipelineOthersNot a formal commercial partner, but Co-Founders Brian Reilly (Harvard varsity football, BA Economics) and Isaiah Kacyvenski (two Harvard degrees, 8-year NFL career) both have Harvard backgrounds, providing a recruiting and network pipeline.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bullpen Capital: Early-stage consumer and sports-tech investor; participated alongside Will Ventures in BetHog's Series A and shares comparable stage and consumer thesis orientation.
• Elysian Park Ventures: Venture firm affiliated with the LA Dodgers ownership group that invests in sports, entertainment, and consumer; one of the most direct comparables to Will Ventures given sports-adjacent strategic LP base and consumer thesis overlap.
• Courtside Ventures: Sports-focused early-stage VC firm that invests across sports tech, media, and consumer; co-invested alongside Will Ventures in Jump's $25M Series A and shares the same sports-tech thesis and LP base.
• Seven Seven Six: Alexis Ohanian's venture firm that led Jump's $25M Series A with Will Ventures participating; a frequent co-investor in sports and consumer with similar portfolio stage (Series A/seed) and founder-led orientation.
• Forerunner Ventures: Consumer-focused early-stage VC led by Kirsten Green; co-invested alongside Will Ventures in Jump and shares thesis overlap in consumer and creator-economy adjacencies.
• BITKRAFT Ventures: Venture firm investing across gaming, esports, and interactive entertainment; directly comparable to Will Ventures given overlapping thesis in sports betting, gaming, and consumer interactive experiences.
• Drive by DraftKings: DraftKings' venture arm investing across sportstech, fan engagement, and gaming; participated alongside Will Ventures in Jump and offers both capital and strategic distribution to league/team partners.
• RockawayX: Web3/crypto-native venture firm that co-led BetHog's $10M Series A alongside Will Ventures; comparable given shared conviction in crypto-casino and AI-dealer disruption theses.

Broad incumbents

• Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): Mega-VC with a consumer/sports thesis overlap and several Will Ventures alumni (Ben Gardner, Jacob Westphal); broadly comparable as a brand, but operates at much larger AUM scale across many verticals.
• Lerer Hippeau: Long-running NY-based seed investor in consumer, media, and commerce; comparable to Will Ventures in early-stage consumer focus, though broader and more established.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/willventures
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/will-ventures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments51 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Will Ventures