The Thesis

Brands and rightsholders exchange sponsorship dollars for attention and access, but that exchange has historically been priced on relationships and gut feel more than data. New Currency is the bet on the tools that measure, value, and prove sponsorship ROI — turning a subjective spend category into something brands can actually attribute and optimize.

The Operator Lens

This is the pillar closest to lived experience rather than research: years spent as the buyer of sponsorship dollars, on the other side of the table from exactly the tools this thesis is about, in an era when the global sports sponsorship market runs roughly $70–75 billion a year — a market that size still being priced largely without the kind of measurement infrastructure other ad categories take for granted. Athelo Group

What The Data Says

The clearest signal this quarter is consolidation: Game Theory, a sponsorship-intelligence company, launched in June 2026 by acquiring MVP Index, the industry-leading sponsorship measurement platform, explicitly to pair MVP's patented computer-vision measurement technology with hands-on strategic advisory — Game Theory's own framing was that "the market is full of dashboards, and short on outcomes." MVP Index itself had real scale — clients including the NHL, PGA Tour, Dallas Cowboys, Fenway Sports Group, and brands like Amazon and Ford, having raised $27M total including a $20M Series B. But the rest of the category is much smaller: Blinkfire Analytics, a comparable computer-vision sponsorship-valuation company, has raised only about $2.6M total across four rounds since its first round in 2013. One well-funded, acquired leader next to several thinly capitalized alternatives is not a mature, evenly-distributed category — it's an early one with a single proof point of exit value. Game Theory Acquires MVP Index to Pair Patented Measurement with Strategic Advisory +5