Women’s sport – a whole new ball game?

A deal to buy Bristol City WFC team could be the start of an investment trend

Hello Rainmakers,

Women’s sport is having a moment.

We’ve been blessed this year with some remarkable success stories. As Robert Buckland discovers, victories for the Lionesses in Euro 2025 and the Red Roses in the Rugby World Cup have thrown the spotlight on women’s elite sport.

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Women’s tournaments are now pulling in record crowds – both at the stadia and on TV - and landing lucrative sponsorship deals.

And where there’s that level of activity, there’s bound to be investment opportunities.

True, funding levels still lag far behind the eye-watering sums going into men’s sports, and some institutional investors are still waiting on the touchline by taking a cautious approach.

However, others are increasingly recognising women’s clubs as “standalone assets with distinct commercial and cultural potential”.

So says Mercury13, the global investment group dedicated exclusively to women’s football. The name may not be instantly recognisable - but Mercury13 looks set to become an impact player in the emerging market.

The group burst onto the English women’s football scene two weeks ago when it acquired an 80% stake in Bristol City Women, the first deal of its kind in English football.

Read the quotes from those involved and it’s clear that it’s now a whole new ball game for women’s sport.

But first, who are Mercury13? The London-based business was co-founded by Argentine/American sports entrepreneur Victoire Cogevina Reyna and Mario Malavé, a Venezuelan former investment banker and deep-tech venture capital fund owner.

But she’s not doing this as a throwaway whim, this a deadly serious long term investment for the future of female sport.

Victoire Cogevina Reyna even says: “We don’t invest in other sports, we don’t invest on the men’s side of the sport.”

Victoire Cogevina Reyna

The business’s game plan is to be a major player in the market – it has pledged to invest up to $100m (£74m) globally in women’s football.