Here’s the story in 60 seconds…
Danny Menken has spent more than 20 years building some of Europe’s most successful sports platforms.
He scaled Eurosport as Managing Director.
He transformed Infostrada into a leading data, production, and digital services group before selling in 2015.
He co‑founded Eleven Sports, building it from scratch into a global DTC broadcaster, and sold it to DAZN.
After two decades inside the industry, he kept seeing sports treated as one‑off events instead of year‑round IP, and emerging sports remained massively under‑monetized.
So, he co‑founded Athvance Capital to invest in emerging and under-commercialized sports IP.
This week we spoke with Danny Menken: Co-founder & GP of Athvance Capital and the builder behind some of Europe’s most successful sports media platforms.
The platform has invested in more than 20 ventures across beach volleyball, padel, boxing, street soccer, technology, and media.
To unlock the attention, engagement, and community that drive all long‑term value in sport, Danny says everything starts with the fan.
Their business model earns revenue from every part of a sports property:
ticketing, sponsorships, media rights, host‑city fees, merchandise, F&B, betting, esports, and licensing.
Formats like Queen & King of the Court show how reimagining a sport can turn beach volleyball into a fast‑paced, broadcast‑ready global property.
👇 How Danny is building a new model for European sports investing
To the visionaries allocating, building, and moving the industry forward,
Edoardo Grandi
