APEX’s strategy becomes easier to understand when sports valuation growth is separated into two periods.
The first was driven heavily by scarcity.
Institutional investors discovered sport, leagues relaxed ownership restrictions and dedicated sports funds proliferated. The supply of premium assets remained fixed, so more capital began competing for the same teams and franchises.
APEX grew during that first wave. It began with an athlete-backed investment model, expanded into venture investing through the Elite Performance Fund and built exposure to sport while ownership was moving from founders, billionaires and strategic buyers toward a much deeper institutional capital market.
Formula One captures what happened next.
When Otro Capital, RedBird and Maximum Effort invested in Alpine in 2023, the transaction valued the team at roughly €900 million. By late 2025, Forbes estimated the average Formula One team at $3.6 billion, up 89% from its 2023 estimate, with even the smallest franchises valued above $1.5 billion.
The business improved at the same time. Formula One revenue reached $3.873 billion in 2025, up 14% YoY, while ordinary team payments increased to $1.4 billion.
But the increase in franchise values substantially exceeded the growth of the underlying business.
This difference is important.
APEX built its platform during a period when simply owning scarce sports assets could produce extraordinary appreciation as institutional capital entered the sector. It is now positioning for a more difficult phase.
Once sport has already been recognised, institutionalised and re-rated, buying exposure is no longer enough. Future returns increasingly depend on what an investor can improve after the transaction.
This shift sits at the centre of APEX’s new strategy.
365247 Sports breaks down the investment strategy and thesis behind APEX, analyses the portfolio it is building and wider ecosystem. A must-read for anyone looking to understand how sports investing is evolving, and what the next generation of sports assets could look like.