Another Start-Up Is Trying to Sell Shares in Athletes’ Future Earnings

The idea of investing in the future career earnings of pro athletes isn’t new, and it hasn’t always gone well for everyone involved. Just ask Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. or the now-defunct company Fantex.

But the people behind Agentiq, which launched this week with roughly $4 million in venture capital backing, say it can succeed where others have failed.

“It feels to me that consumers are being left out of all the value creation in the sports asset class,” cofounder Zach Kurtz tells Front Office Sports. “We wanted to change that.”

Founded last fall by Kurtz and Reuben Abraham, the company is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Like similar companies that have come before it, Agentiq offers pro athletes upfront cash in exchange for a percentage of their future on-field earnings. It then allows investors to buy fractional shares via securities offerings. Fans will be able to invest on both mobile and web-based platforms.

The initial focus is baseball, although the plan is to eventually expand into other sports. Agentiq’s first athletes include current MLB players: Diamondbacks reliever Justin Martinez, Pirates outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez, and Cardinals starting pitcher Hunter Dobbins. The company has also signed deals with two top prospects: shortstop Ronny Cruz of the Nationals’ Wilmington Blue Rocks minor-league affiliate, and catcher Carlos Virahonda of the Diamondbacks’ Amarillo Sod Poodles.

Agentiq is keeping much of its technology in-house, something Kurtz and Abraham tout as one of the reasons they’ll be able to keep fees lower than competitors. The company currently charges a 1% broker fee, which goes to broker-dealer Andes Capital, and a one-time negotiation fee for their current athletes has amounted to roughly 4% of gross proceeds. Agentiq also charges a 2.5% maintenance fee on distributions to investors (under that distribution fee, Agentiq would keep $2.50 per $100 being paid out to investors). It aims to lower those fees as it builds and scales. 

“We are basically building a mini Robinhood,” Abraham tells FOS. “It’s critical to get this perfect, because this is people’s money.”

They intend to eventually offer insurance, allow investors to sell their interests to other investors, and create “baskets” of players that would allow fans to diversify by investing in multiple players at once.

“The goal is to bring as much optionality as possible so consumers can protect themselves from the potential downside,” Kurtz says.

Previous Attempts

In 2012, a company called Fantex tried a similar business model with former NFL players like Vernon Davis, Alshon Jeffery, and Mohamed Sanu. By 2016, it had folded, including because trading volumes were low. Although its founders moved on to a new venture—asset management firm X10 Capital—Fantex faced lingering issues. In 2021, an arbitrator ruled that Fantex owed Sanu just under $1.15 million. Under their original deal, Fantex paid a then 24-year-old Sanu $1.56 million in return for 10% of his future football-related earnings.

Finlete, meanwhile, was founded in 2021. The highest-profile athlete it has signed was Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, a three-time All-Star who signed a five-year, $20 million deal with Cleveland in 2022. His future is now unclear after he was indicted over allegations he participated in an illegal pitch-rigging scheme.

Finlete cofounder and CEO Rob Connolly previously told FOS that as long as Clase continued to be paid at the major league level, dividends to investors would continue as scheduled. But in March, his paid leave became unpaid leave. Finlete did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how this will impact investors.

Some companies offer a similar product but with a focus on institutional—not retail—investors. A well-known example is Big League Advance, which in 2017 signed a then-18-year-old Tatis, paying him $2 million in exchange for 10% of his future MLB earnings.

Tatis, now a two-time All-Star, stopped making payments to BLA in 2024, which prompted a dispute. In May, a California state judge ruled he could not avoid an arbitrator’s October 2025 decision that he owed BLA nearly $3.74 million. 

Kurtz and Abraham are aware of the pitfalls that have plagued others. “In terms of investing in humans, there are just inherent risks,” Kurtz says.

But Kurtz says Agentiq will heed the lessons of those that came before it.

“Our hypothesis is that if Fantex had done what they were doing in 2012 today, it would have worked great,” he tells FOS. “We’re doing what they were doing, but with a team that’s really good at scaling financial technology products and in a better regulatory environment.”