Corporate Advisory partner Deborah Johns has led the team at Gilbert + Tobin to assist Tennis Australia in setting up its own venture capital fund, Wildcard Ventures.

Wildcard Ventures will invest in start-up companies that focus on technologies that benefit the sport, health and entertainment industries.

The aim of this new fund is focused on investing in early-stage, technology-led start-ups that impact the sports industry globally. This follows the trend of America's top sporting organisations including the NFL, NBA and MLB which have launched their own venture capital funds.  

Wildcard Ventures has already made a multimillion-dollar investment in US artificial intelligence sports tech business SwingVision.

Deborah was supported on this project by lawyers Sam Kaelin and Jamie Pouch. She commented on the deal, saying “As a passionate tennis fan, it was an absolute pleasure to work with Wildcard Ventures in setting up this new fund.  Innovative technologies have a massive impact on the sports world, on everything from athlete performance to our experience as fans, and we are pleased to have helped pave the way for more sports technology start-ups to grow their businesses.”.

Gilbert + Tobin’s market-leading Venture Capital team has acted on the establishment of, and investments for, many of the most high-profile venture capital funds in the market – including Airtree Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, Brandon Capital, Five V, Galileo Ventures, Investec, Jelix, OneVentures, Square Peg Capital, Startmate, Southern Cross, Tenacious Ventures and many more.