Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Saturday, August 16th.

Today on Forbes, Alex Rodriguez's startup, Jump, raises $23 million in quest to be Shopify

for sports teams.

When Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian entered the sports world six years ago, as the

founding control owner of the National

Women's Soccer League's Angel City FC, he was surprised how resistant to innovative technology

the industry remained. It would be relatively simple, for instance, to offer fans the option to

upgrade their tickets in the middle of a game or order concessions directly to their seats,

but those sort of features were mostly unavailable, and O'Hanian found the explanation for the

deficiencies just as frustrating.

Ohanian, who expanded his sports involvement by launching women's track and field series

Athlos last year, recalls, quote, whenever I ask that question, the answer I usually get from

traditional industry experts or veterans is some version of, well, this is the way it's always

been done.

But those norms are starting to change, and Ohanian is betting on one company to help modernize

the fan experience.

Last Tuesday, Jump, a ticketing and fan experience platform founded in 2021 by e-commerce

billionaire Mark Lorry, MLB legend Alex Rodriguez, and entrepreneur Jordi Lyser, announced $23

$23 million in Series A funding, led by Ohanian's venture firm, 776, with Courtside Ventures,

Will Ventures, and Forerunner also participating. The round pushes the company's total funding

to $58 million and pegs its valuation north of $100 million. Whereas fans typically

have to buy tickets, merchandise, and concessions from a

...