Drake's Overtime Investment Builds Up His Media Portfolio
The Certified Lover Boy invested in the sports media company's $80 million Series C round alongside Jeff Bezos, Devin Booker, and Alexis Ohanian.
OVO Media Investors. If Drake built a fund around his investments, its focus would be media and gaming. Here's his portfolio of public investments:
Overtime: sports media.
NTWRK: entertainment-focused shopping platform.
Player's Lounge: wagering platform for gamers.
100 Thieves: gaming organization and lifestyle brand.
Madefire: digital comics-based content (currently insolvent).
Omni: storage on-demand.
Coveteur: digital media (acquired).
Not bad! One exit, one (potential) failure, and the rest are still going.
One of my recent predictions for the 2020s is that media will be one of the big investment areas for hip-hop. Audience building in media is hard. But when it's done well, selling products becomes easier. Successful artists are experts at this and can be value-add investors. They can do more than give out checks and send the dreaded "let me know how I can be helpful" messages.
Similar business models: For instance, Drake built up his audience over the years. He now gets checks from Take Care streams, touring revenue, State Farm commercials, merch, and more. I bet he still gets Degrassi royalty checks too.
His revenue mix is relatable to Overtime. Like Drake, the startup built its audience through original content, then sold products to that audience. It now plans to launch a paid basketball league that pays 16 to 18-year-olds up to $100,000 per year.
In a few years, I expect to see Drake courtside at an Overtime Elite basketball game. He'll be acting up like he's at a Toronto Raptors playoff game. His courtside antics will drive audiences to watch the event, which helps both parties. Let's hope he doesn't get too out of pocket though. It's fine to call Draymond Green trash. But he can't yell at 17-year-old kids like that!
Read more about Drake's legacy in last year's Trapital essay on OVO Sound.
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