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Washington Wizards small forward Kyle Kuzma is expanding his activities outside the NBA, joining venture capital fund Scrum Ventures as an advisor. Scrum, which will announce the pairing later Friday, says Kuzma will help source and evaluate new investment targets in sports and entertainment.
“We connected through our mutual vision of how tech can help enhance global sports and entertainment,” said Kuzma in an email to Sportico. “They have a deep understanding of startup challenges and opportunities, as well as a proven track record of taking startups from concept to market success. I’m also very interested in global innovation, and was particularly drawn to Scrum’s strong network and their ability to help startups expand into new markets like Japan where there are huge opportunities right now.”
Scrum Sports & Entertainment is a $120 million fund formed in late 2022 by Scrum Ventures, a Japanese investing firm founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Tak Miyata and backed by some of the county’s largest conglomerates. The Sports & Entertainment fund is managed by Michael Proman, a Minneapolis investing veteran who worked for the NBA earlier in his career. Bringing Kuzma on board should help Scrum gain a broader view of market opportunities, he said.
“To me it’s about bringing in somebody who has a diverse network skillset and perspective,” Proman said on a phone call. “I always ask myself, ‘Who’s missing from the conversation?’ Even though he’s not a voting member of our investment committee, what he does bring is really thoughtful perspective that is absolutely invaluable. I really appreciate his broad-based worldview.”
Kuzma and Proman initially met through mutual acquaintances of Kuzma’s agent, Austin Brown of Creative Artists Agency, who told Proman of Kuzma’s interest in becoming better versed in the world of venture capital as preparation for life after basketball. Kuzma, 28, is a seven-year veteran of the NBA and has three years remaining on his current contract with the Wizards.
“He’s got a very strategic mindset,” Proman said. “He’s an investor in a plant-based beverage company, he’s done things as a franchisee, he’s an investor in the Waldorf Astoria D.C. hotel—he’s a really dynamic individual.”
Proman says he and Kuzma will collaborate on investments, with the NBA star welcome to bring ideas to the fund while also serving as a sounding board for other investments the fund is considering. Working with the fund will also provide Kuzma with a deeper look inside the world of venture investing beyond writing checks.
The Scrum sports fund is run as a technology fund that invests in sports and entertainment, a distinction that means the fund defines sports tech very broadly, according to Proman. Disclosed investments include high tech displays developer Misapplied Sciences, mobile casino games maker Boom Entertainment, interactive media payments firm Tappp, ticketing tech upstart Project Admission and volumetric video developer Arcturus. Proman believes the current sports tech investing environment should produce plenty of opportunities in areas such as broadcast personalization, Japanese sports betting and venture tech.
A VC fund like Scrum that invests in early-stage—that is very young—businesses will typically see and need to evaluate hundreds of ideas annually, often gaming out how a business plan or a technology might evolve as the company matures, tasks that excite the NBA veteran. “My goal is to help further foster a culture of innovation,” Kuzma said, “not only to cultivate strategic partnerships but to also spearhead initiatives and new opportunities that will help businesses grow on a global scale.”
