Gone are the days when top footballers bought pubs. Today's star players prefer to put their money into technology.
Kylian Mbappe is one of the leaders of the new generation. The French captain has his own investment company Coalition Capital, which has just acquired a stake in German electronics giant Loewe Technology.
The luxury brand has an ambitious business plan. In the next few years, the company aims to increase annual sales from 60 million euros to 300 million euros.
Mbappe's investment is intended to accelerate these ambitions. Its 10% stake could also support a planned initial public offering, Bloomberg reports.
Loewe has not disclosed the value of the deal, but Mbappe could afford a sizeable chunk of the deal.
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In May, Forbes put his net worth at $110 million (€98 million) – and that was before he moved to Real Madrid. His new contract pays him 15 million euros per season and an incredible 150 million euros as a signing bonus.
Mbappe also reportedly retains 80% of his image rights – an unusually high number. Clubs and players usually split the image rights 50/50.
The deal puts Mbappe on the path to even greater wealth. The striker, who is only 25 years old, is considered the richest footballer of all time. But he is far from the only one with money for the technology.
A new team for Mbappe
A growing group of footballers is investing their money in start-ups. There are now enough of them to make a fantastic five-on-five team.
In goal we have Iker Casillas, who captained Spain to the World Cup. Casillas has a growing portfolio of Spanish technology investments, including cardiology startup Idoven and nutrition tracking app Indiya. But he's not just a big spender – he's one too founded a Sports Tech Accelerator Program.
At the heart of our defense is Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand. The elegant centre-back has a penchant for fintech and supports British rivals Yonder and Sokin. He has also put his money into the French NFT soccer game Sorare, which was valued at a whopping $4.3 billion in 2021.
We lead the midfield World Cup winner Blaise Matuidi. In 2022, the Frenchman launched a VC fund aimed at consumer startups in Europe and the USA.
We paired him with Cesc Fabregas – another world champion. The Spaniard is an experienced investor and financed the British cloud video platform Grabyo in 2014. Most recently he supported the Spanish protein startup Heüra.
In attack there is no one better than Mbappé. Not only is the Frenchman a prolific investor – and incredibly rich – he is also incredibly marketable. He has 122 million followers on Instagram alone.
Such fan bases are difficult to create. They are one of the main reasons why footballers are valuable investors.
Loewe took advantage of this appeal. Before attracting Mbappe's investment, the company employed him as a brand ambassador. He later launched a signature speaker, Loewe.
As footballers become brands in their own right – amassing generational wealth in the process – they can look forward to a lucrative future as start-up investors. It could certainly be far more profitable than drinking pints.
Footballers aren't the only investors reshaping startup funding. At At next year's TNW conference, a star-studded panel of tech luminaries will explore all the ways Europe's investment landscape is changing. Early birds can now purchase 2-for-1 tickets for the June event.
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