Tech Startups
Last month, he joined the advisory board of Seedrs, a three-year-old crowdfunding site that has financed about 200 businesses in health, sport and wearable technology. Murray’s team approached Seedrs a year ago, chief investment officer Tom Davies said in an interview.
So far Murray has invested in two companies, including a health-drinks maker whose products impressed his nutritionist.
“The beauty of it is, if he invests in a company, he can use their product and then endorse it,” Davies said.
The player plans to buy stakes in as many as 40 companies over the next five years, according to Gentry. There are also plans to set up a small management agency that looks after other sports stars, with Murray in a mentor role.
“The idea behind it was to create a set of businesses in different areas, to capitalize while he’s still hot,” Gentry said. “He’s got about four to five years left playing.”
Own Approach
Murray’s business approach isn’t the only thing that makes him stand out from the rest of the field. He’s the only player in the top 50 with a female coach, Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo. He was also one of the first to build a team around him consisting of a coach, physiotherapist, conditioning trainer and press agent.
The day after his historic Wimbledon triumph, Murray told Bloomberg television tennis players get paid “probably too much.”
The relationship between athletes and brands goes both ways, according to Carsten Thode, chief strategy officer at Synergy in London, a sponsorship consultancy which has worked on Olympic programs for two decades. Its clients include BMW, Emirates and MasterCard.