Jeff Bezos Leads $80M Funding Round In Overtime Sports Media Company

The Brooklyn-based sports media company Overtime has raised $80 million in Series C funding from a parade of high-profile investors including Amazon.com Inc. AMZN CEO Jeff Bezos, Grammy-winning rapper Drake and 25 current and former members of the National Basketball Association.

What Happened: Overtime was founded in 2016 and distributes original sports content across social media platforms including Facebook FB and Alphabet's GOOGL YouTube. The company also markets apparel featuring its logo.

The company said it planned to use the new funding to increase its capabilities around non-fungible tokens and trading cards and to upgrade its app. Some of the funding is also being channeled into Overtime Elite, a new basketball league for 16-to-18-year-olds that the company plans to launch in September.

To date, Overtime has raised $140 million in funding.

See Also: Benzinga Stock Market Live: New Rally, Or Dead Cat Bounce?

Who Made It Happen: Among the investors in this funding round, Bezos is clearly the one with the deepest pockets. His input came via Bezos Expeditions, his personal investment company.

Other corporate investors include Morgan Stanley Counterpoint Global, Concrete Rose Capital, Dentsu Ventures, Intersect Capital, LightShed Ventures and Blackstone Strategic Partners, while celebrity money comes from WNBA All-Star and commentator Chiney Ogwumike and NBA icons including Trae Young, Devin Booker, Klay Thompson and Pau Gasol.

“The breadth and diversity of this investment group, including leaders from business, entertainment, technology and sports, speaks to Overtime’s remarkable growth and our future trajectory,” said Dan Porter, Overtime’s CEO and co-founder. “We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg, as we develop new ways for Overtime to engage with and entertain the next generation of athletes and fans.”