Patricof Co, the advisory shop that has spent nine years aggregating professional athlete capital into pooled investment vehicles, announced Tuesday it is partnering with L Catterton to formalize what has been, until now, an ad hoc arrangement. The deal gives Patricof's athlete clients—a roster that includes Patrick Mahomes, Jayson Tatum, and Christian Pulisic—access to L Catterton's $35 billion consumer-focused platform. L Catterton, backed by LVMH, gets what it has never had: a structured pipeline into the highest-earning cohort of endorsers in sports.
The partnership does not involve a fund raise or a disclosed equity stake. Instead, Patricof will refer athlete clients to L Catterton deals on a case-by-case basis, with athletes investing directly alongside the firm's institutional LPs. Patricof founder Mark Patricof, son of Apax Partners co-founder Alan Patricof, has been running this model informally since 2015, when he began advising athletes on off-field wealth strategies. The firm has placed athlete capital into consumer brands including Cholula Hot Sauce, PopSockets, and Hyperice, the latter of which L Catterton already backs. Tuesday's announcement codifies what had been a referral relationship.
For L Catterton, the logic is distribution. Professional athletes are not merely high-net-worth individuals; they are marketing infrastructure. A $500,000 check from a starting quarterback into a direct-to-consumer skincare brand buys the company an Instagram Story, a locker-room conversation, and a signal to other athletes that the brand is worth attention. L Catterton has historically relied on its LVMH anchor and its own consumer expertise to win deals. Now it has a roster of athletes who can accelerate a portfolio company's go-to-market by six months simply by wearing the product on a plane. The firm is not paying Patricof Co a carried interest override; it is paying for early adoption as a service.
For Patricof's clients, the value is access to deals they would not see alone. Most athletes invest through a combination of venture funds, direct checks to friends' startups, and franchise ownership in fast-casual concepts. Patricof has been positioning itself as the alternative: a fiduciary advisor who shows athletes institutional-grade deals, then handles the paperwork. The L Catterton tie-up means Patricof can now offer athletes co-investment rights in late-stage consumer rounds that typically require $5 million minimum checks. Athletes write smaller amounts—$250,000 to $1 million—but do so in groups, which satisfies L Catterton's preference for clean cap tables.
The timing is not coincidental. Athlete investment activity has doubled since 2020, driven by rising salary caps, NIL income, and a generation of players who watched LeBron James turn a $1 million Blaze Pizza investment into a $35 million exit. Family offices that serve athletes report 15-20% of client portfolios are now in private equity or venture, up from 5% in 2018. But most athletes lack the infrastructure to diligence deals or negotiate terms. Patricof Co has built that infrastructure, and L Catterton is renting it.
The partnership does not preclude Patricof from working with other PE firms, and L Catterton is not obligated to take athlete capital in every deal. But the announcement signals both firms expect athlete-led deal flow to professionalize. L Catterton's consumer portfolio includes Savage X Fenty, Sweaty Betty, and Birkenstock, all brands that have used athlete endorsers as growth levers. Now those endorsers can write checks before the cap table closes. The question is whether other PE firms—KKR, TPG, Blackstone—decide they want the same pipeline, and whether Patricof Co remains the only firm with the Rolodex to deliver it.
Patricof Co declined to disclose how many athletes are part of the partnership or how much capital has been committed. L Catterton's next fund, expected to close in 2025, will be the first to formally accommodate athlete co-investment structures. The firm's head of North America, Michael Farello, will oversee the relationship. Patricof's team, which includes former NFL player Emmanuel Sanders as an operating partner, will continue to source athletes and structure allocations. The first deals under the formal partnership are expected to close in Q2 2025.
The takeaway
Patricof Co formalizes nine years of athlete capital pooling with L Catterton, giving athletes access to **$35B** consumer platform and L Catterton a marketing pipeline.
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