Anthony Edwards, Kyler Murray, and Bryce Young have taken equity positions in Karma Automotive, the Irvine-based electric luxury-vehicle manufacturer, as part of what sources describe as a $15M-$20M tranche targeting Black professional athletes. The round closed in late March. Edwards' allocation alone is believed to exceed $2M. Murray and Young each committed seven figures. The three join a roster that now includes 14 active NFL and NBA players, though Karma has not disclosed the full investor list.
Karma builds the Revero GT—a $150,000 plug-in hybrid grand tourer—and the forthcoming Gyesera EV sedan, slated for late 2025 delivery at a $90,000 base. The company, formerly Fisker Automotive before a 2014 bankruptcy and Chinese acquisition, reported 427 units delivered in 2024, down from 612 the prior year. It is not profitable. The athlete round was structured as convertible preferred equity with a liquidation preference, according to two people familiar with the terms. The conversion trigger ties to either a SPAC merger or a Series D at a valuation north of $800M. Current implied valuation: $650M, per Pitchbook data as of February.
The investment matters because it formalizes a pattern: athletes with $30M-$80M net worths are now writing checks into capital-intensive hardware plays, not just app rollups or beverage lines. Edwards earned $13.5M this season and is extension-eligible in 2025. Murray signed a $230M deal in 2022. Young, a second-year quarterback, is on a rookie scale but represents brand optionality the other two lack—Charlotte market, endorsement-light, coachable for sponsored content. All three have representation that has quietly pushed them toward syndicates with other athletes, reducing solo diligence burden and creating perceived safety in numbers. Karma's pitch leaned on scarcity: limited production, celebrity owner base (Justin Bieber drove a Revero in 2017), and a chance to be early in a category where Tesla's cultural dominance is fading among the under-30 set.
The risk is structural. Karma has raised over $450M since relaunch and has yet to break 1,000 annual units. Its direct competitors—Lucid, Polestar, Rivian—are bleeding cash at scale. Karma is bleeding cash without scale. The athlete cohort is betting that the company either gets acquired by a legacy OEM hunting EV credibility (Stellantis is rumored) or successfully launches Gyesera into a $80,000-$120,000 EV sedan segment that barely exists outside of Porsche Taycan. The convertible structure protects downside if the company folds or stalls below the conversion threshold, but the upside requires Karma to quintuple revenue without additional dilution. That is not the base case.
What to watch: Gyesera prototypes are expected at Pebble Beach in August, where Karma historically brings show cars and closes investor intros. If Edwards, Murray, or Young appear trackside in branded polos, it signals activation beyond passive equity. The next funding milestone is a rumored $50M bridge round in Q3, likely needed to keep production lines warm into 2026. The athlete group is not expected to participate. Also: Murray's Cardinals contract includes a $29M roster bonus due March 2026; if he restructures or exits, his liquidity profile shifts and the Karma stake becomes more interesting as a tax-loss candidate.
Karma delivered 31 cars in Q1 2025. The athlete round closed after that figure was known.
The takeaway
Three stars wrote checks into a cash-burning EV play with **sub-500 annual deliveries**—convertible structure limits loss, but upside requires an exit that hasn't materialized in 11 years.
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