OpenSponsorship
OpenSponsorship is a two-sided sports sponsorship marketplace connecting brands with 25,000+ athletes, creators, and health & wellness influencers across 160 sports, offering self-serve and managed-service deal facilitation on a transaction-fee model.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What OpenSponsorship does
OpenSponsorship (OpenSponsorship Corp.) is a two-sided online marketplace founded in 2015 and headquartered in New York that connects brands with athletes, sports creators, and health & wellness influencers for sponsorship deals. The platform indexes more than 25,000 talent profiles across 160 sports and 120 countries and offers pre-packaged products — Social Media Deals, Brand Ambassador Deals, and Appearance Deals — alongside fully custom packages. Deal pricing ranges from roughly $6,000 for entry-level social posts up to multi-million-dollar multi-year ambassadorships for elite athletes, reflecting the breadth of the talent pool.
The platform handles the end-to-end sponsorship workflow: brand-talent matching, messaging, contracting, deliverables management, and ROI reporting. Brands can self-serve through free account creation and direct proposals, or engage a white-glove Managed Service for sourcing, content briefing, and campaign execution. The technology is positioned as a marketplace with integrated deal-management tooling rather than a SaaS suite, and the company's largest proprietary asset is a dataset built across approximately a decade and 9,000+ accepted deals that informs pricing and matchmaking.
The business operates a transaction-fee revenue model, taking a commission on deals facilitated between brands and talent, supplemented by enterprise managed-service engagements. The customer base spans consumer brands (Walmart, Anheuser Busch, Vitamin Shoppe, Kachava), sports betting operators (FanDuel, DraftKings), and media companies (USA Today), served through both self-serve SMB onboarding and direct enterprise sales. The company became profitable in 2024 and reported 200% revenue growth in 2025, with cumulative disclosed funding of roughly $5 million+ led by David Blitzer (2021) and Serena Williams (2022), alongside strategic participation from Nike.
OpenSponsorship firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- OpenSponsorship
- Legal name
- OpenSponsorship Corp.
- Website
- https://opensponsorship.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- OpenSponsorship is a two-sided sports sponsorship marketplace connecting brands with 25,000+ athletes, creators, and health & wellness influencers across 160 sports, offering self-serve and managed-service deal facilitation on a transaction-fee model.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
OpenSponsorship industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Athlete Influencer Marketing Marketplace
- NAICS
- Agents and Managers for Artists, Athletes, Entertainers, and Other Public Figures (7114), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (51621)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Open Banking, Account Aggregation & Payment Initiation APIs (BPAMAFAJ)
Keywords
Where OpenSponsorship is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
OpenSponsorship business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations
Revenue model
- Platform Commission/Transaction Fees: Platform facilitates deals between brands and athletes, earning commission on transactions. Facilitates social media deals, brand ambassador deals, and appearance deals with pricing ranging from $6,000 to $12,960,000 depending on athlete profile.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Social Media Deal - 1 post & 1 story promoting brand product |
| Unit Pricing | Multi-year contract | Brand Ambassador Deal - Long-term deal involving appearances, photoshoots, social media and more |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Appearance Deal - Live appearance at brand event |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom Package - Tailored campaign for specific brand needs |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels3 records
OpenSponsorship product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OpenSponsorship operates an online marketplace platform that connects brands with a network of 25,000+ athletes, sports creators, and health & wellness influencers across 160 sports and 120 countries. The platform facilitates sponsorship deals including social media posts, brand ambassador campaigns, and live appearances, handling matching, outreach, contracting, deliverables, and ROI reporting. It offers both a self-serve experience and a white-glove managed service for enterprise brands.
Product overview
OpenSponsorship is a sports sponsorship marketplace platform operating as the world's largest athlete marketing platform. The platform connects brands with 25,000+ athletes and creators across 160 sports and 120 countries. It offers two core modules: the Brand Solution for companies to discover, proposal, and manage athlete partnerships, and the Talent Solution for athletes and creators to showcase their profiles and manage sponsorship deals. An optional Managed Service add-on provides white-glove support for sourcing, contracting, content briefing, delivery, and ROI reporting. The platform facilitates deals across social media posts, appearances, and integrated brand ambassador campaigns.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Sports & Wellness Influencer Marketing Platform Online marketplace platform connecting brands with 25,000+ athletes, sports creators, and health & wellness influencers. Handles matching, outreach, contracts, deliverables, and campaign reporting for sponsorship deals across social media, brand ambassador, and appearance campaigns.
- Managed Service White-glove managed service for enterprise brands handling end-to-end sponsorship campaign execution including sourcing, contracting, content briefing, delivery, and ROI reporting.
Quantifiable outcome
- 11.6M total campaign views for Walmart Soccer Saturday campaign
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use OpenSponsorship
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
OpenSponsorship technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
OpenSponsorship partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators12 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
OpenSponsorship competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Aspire (formerly AspireIQ): Influencer marketing platform for brands to discover creators, manage campaigns, and measure ROI. Comparable marketplace + managed-service model with overlap on sports and wellness creators, though Aspire serves broader lifestyle categories.
- Opendorse: Athlete endorsement and NIL marketplace connecting brands and athletes for paid social, appearance, and endorsement deals. Directly comparable to OpenSponsorship's core athlete sponsorship marketplace, including pricing, matching, and reporting tooling.
- IZEA: Publicly-traded influencer marketing platform offering creator discovery, campaign management, and analytics across verticals including sports. Directly competes for brand sponsorship budgets, though IZEA is broader and creator-agnostic vs. OpenSponsorship's sports specialization.
- Teamworks (formerly INFLCR): Athlete engagement and influencer/NIL platform used by collegiate and professional sports organizations to manage athlete-brand partnerships. Closely comparable on athlete-side profile management, brand-deal facilitation, and content distribution.
- MOGL: Athlete marketing platform connecting brands with college and professional athletes for endorsements and appearances. Same two-sided sports sponsorship marketplace model with overlapping athlete-side onboarding and brand-side campaign tooling.
- Captiv8: Influencer marketing platform with a large creator marketplace and self-serve + managed-service offerings. Directly comparable marketplace dynamics and overlap on sports/lifestyle creators.
- Grin: Creator marketing platform focused on direct-relationship management and ROI reporting. Comparable on the brand-side managed workflow and athlete/creator discovery, with similar enterprise-tier white-glove service.
Others
- Wasserman: Major sports marketing and talent representation agency working with athletes, brands, and rights holders. Adjacent to OpenSponsorship as the traditional agency alternative whose agent fees the platform explicitly seeks to disintermediate.
- Octagon: Global sports marketing agency representing athletes and brokering sponsorship deals with brands. Competes for the same sponsorship wallets, but delivers via agency service rather than a marketplace platform.
Broad incumbents
- CreatorIQ: Enterprise-grade influencer marketing platform used by large brands for creator discovery, CRM, and analytics. Comparable brand-side enterprise motion; serves broader creator categories but overlaps significantly on sports/athlete creator activations.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
OpenSponsorship social profiles
Digital presenceOpenSponsorship financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
OpenSponsorship leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
OpenSponsorship funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
OpenSponsorship M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about OpenSponsorship
What does OpenSponsorship do?
OpenSponsorship operates an online marketplace platform that connects brands with a network of 25,000+ athletes, sports creators, and health & wellness influencers across 160 sports and 120 countries. The platform facilitates sponsorship deals including social media posts, brand ambassador campaigns, and live appearances, handling matching, outreach, contracting, deliverables, and ROI reporting. It offers both a self-serve experience and a white-glove managed service for enterprise brands.
Is OpenSponsorship a public or private company?
OpenSponsorship is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was OpenSponsorship founded?
OpenSponsorship was founded in 2015. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is OpenSponsorship based?
OpenSponsorship is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does OpenSponsorship make money?
One revenue line is on record: platform Commission/Transaction Fees.
Who are OpenSponsorship's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Aspire (formerly AspireIQ), Opendorse, IZEA, Teamworks (formerly INFLCR), MOGL, Captiv8 and Grin. Others are Wasserman and Octagon. CreatorIQ is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does OpenSponsorship have an API?
No public API is recorded for OpenSponsorship.
What industry is OpenSponsorship in?
OpenSponsorship's product category is Athlete Influencer Marketing Marketplace. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAFAJ, Open Banking, Account Aggregation & Payment Initiation APIs. Its NAICS code is 7114 and its SIC code is 7311.