Why this is worth 3 minutes of your time:
How a new league raised $15M twice in 2025
How snow sports with 125M participants can become an investable championship
How head‑to‑head formats + lifestyle events make fans stick around
Omer Atesmen met Olympic legend Shaun White while filming a MasterClass with stars like Michael Phelps and Maria Sharapova.
Later, they partnered to build The Snow League.
This week we spoke with Omer Atesmen: CEO of The Snow League, a Stanford‑trained engineer, robotics founder, ex‑BCG consultant and ad‑tech entrepreneur.
In January, the league raised $15M Series A funding round.
Last week, it raised a second $15M funding round, to help accelerate its global expansion.
Rashaun Williams (Founder, CIO of Harbinger Sports Partners) often suggests sports investments are broken into 3 stages:
Early Stage → New leagues or teams, limited revenue, high upside but very high risk.
Growth Stage → Established but not yet profitable, moderate risk, possible capital calls (e.g. WNBA, MLS).
Late Stage → Mature franchises, stable cash flows, lower risk (e.g. NBA, NFL, MLB).
👇 How Omer raised $15M twice for a 17-month old league
📌 What Makes This Product Scalable
1. 125M global participants = 2x the size of golf and snow sports participants have highest household income of any sport.
2. One continuous championship season = One league brings snow sport events together, where athletes face each other many times and rivalries grow.
3. Athlete‑first model = Whole system built around what athletes need. $2.2M in prize money plus guaranteed appearance fees.
4. Head‑to‑head competition = Athletes face each other like a knockout match and fans instantly see who wins and who loses.
5. Lifestyle events = Adding concerts, festivals, and community gatherings around events makes the audience much bigger than just skiers and snowboarders.
🎯 Omer on product‑market fit
“Product-market fit with emerging leagues is a real issue because you’re building something you think people might want to watch, but they don’t. Fortunately, our product is one of the most watched sports in the Olympics and very popular globally.”
Next week: a conversation with Massimo Zanetti. He founded Segafredo Zanetti, one of the world’s largest coffee producers, and owns Virtus Bologna, Italy’s second most titled basketball club.
Best,
Edoardo Grandi
