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Sports December 7, 2022
Russell Steinberg
Russell Steinberg

Derek Jeter’s Arena Club Announces $10 Million Series A Fundraising Round

Arena Club CEO/Co-Founder Brian Lee, Co-Founders Jesse Glass and Derek Jeter, and VP Business Development Warren Laufer (Photo by Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Arena Club)
M13 led the raise, giving Arena Club $20 million in total funding as it looks to scale up.

Arena Club, the sports trading card platform co-founded by Derek Jeter, has completed a $10 million Series A fundraising round, the company announced on Wednesday.

The raise brings Arena Club’s total funding to $20 million as the company works to deliver what it calls the first-ever fully digital card show.

Investors M13, defy.vc, Lightspeed Ventures, Elysian Park Ventures, and BAM Ventures led the funding round.

“We are thrilled to announce this latest funding raise which will allow us to continue growing within the fast-paced sports collectible market,” Co-Founder and CEO of Arena Club Brian Lee said in a release. “Our team is thankful for the group of investors – led by M13, who see the bright future of the trading card hobby and our platform.”

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The companies that led the funding round all have strong track records in sports, tech, and/or collectibles. M13 touts sports social audio app Locker Room and Web3 fitness app Stepn in its portfolio, for example, while Lighstpeed Ventures is a key backer of Fan Controlled Football.

Arena Club says it will use the funding to “scale operations, attract world-class talent, and meet consumers where they are in the current state of the hobby.” It will also add additional functionality to the platform to better support its buying, selling, and trading functionalities.

“Since we launched Arena Club, it has been fun to see the positive response from consumers about our platform,” Jeter said. “Providing users with a digital card show allows us to use our first-class technology to give collectors from all over the world the luxury of being able to get the full trading card show experience at their fingertips. The future for Arena Club is bright and we have some great things ahead.”

Arena Club, which launched in September, touts itself as the first-ever vault and marketplace platform for trading cards. Users can join to bid on, buy, sell, or trade from their collections, as well as have their cards graded and stored in Arena Club’s temperature- and moisture-controlled vault.

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Russell Steinberg

Russell Steinberg is an editor and writer at Boardroom. He came to the brand in 2021 with a decade of experience in sports journalism, primarily covering college basketball at SB Nation as a writer, reporter, and blog manager. In a previous life, he worked as a social media strategist and copywriter, handling accounts ranging from sports retail to luxury hotels and financial technology. Though he has mastered the subtweet, he kindly requests you @ him next time.

trading cardsDerek JeterCollectiblesInvestingArena Club
About The Author
Russell Steinberg
Russell Steinberg
Russell Steinberg
Russell Steinberg is an editor and writer at Boardroom. He came to the brand in 2021 with a decade of experience in sports journalism, primarily covering college basketball at SB Nation as a writer, reporter, and blog manager. In a previous life, he worked as a social media strategist and copywriter, handling accounts ranging from sports retail to luxury hotels and financial technology. Though he has mastered the subtweet, he kindly requests you @ him next time.