Since selling management software company Qualtrics for $8 billion in 2019, Ryan Smith has purchased the NBA’s Utah Jazz and brought NHL hockey to Utah. Now, he’s betting on the intersection between sports and technology with a private investment fund that is looking to raise up to $1 billion.
HX One LP, a private investment fund led by Smith and his longtime investment partner Ryan Sweeney of venture capital firm Accel, has a ceiling of $1 billion in investment, according to a Monday U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The fund will be housed under a corporate entity called Halo Experience.
The duo have been working together for more than a decade – Accel invested in Qualtrics in 2012 as part of the company’s $70 million Series A funding, and as part of that agreement Sweeney joined the Qualtrics board.
Fast forward 13 years, and Smith and Sweeney see a hole in the rapidly growing sports investment space.
“We have this massive AI movement where we think there’s trillions of dollars of spend that’s going to be shifted, and processes that are going to be changed, and we kind of sit at the forefront of both,” Smith tells Front Office Sports.
Rather than solely focusing on businesses already in the sports realm, they feel there’s an opportunity to target tech companies across the board that could play a role in what they describe as the “experience economy” in sports.
“Sports effectively touches all parts of our economy,” Sweeney tells FOS. “Think about the intersection of digital media, of social media, payments, security, health and wellness, the list goes on and on. All the big markets we talk about, whether it be investing or just broadly speaking in terms of the economy, all have a role and all play a part within the sports ecosystem.”
They aren’t wrong about investor appetite for sports tech. A January report from consulting firm Altman Solon showed that 62% of the more than 250 global sports executives surveyed view technology as the “most attractive investment opportunity.” A March report from M&A and financial advisory firm Oaklins similarly pointed to “sportstech” as a primary driver of increased transaction volume in the sports sector. The report points to 2024 deals such as Tiga Investments’ acquisition of Dream Sports, which owns one of the largest fantasy sports platforms in India, as well as DraftKings’ deal for Simplebet, which allows users to place “microbets” on specific events within a game, such as whether a particular player will score a touchdown during a specific quarter.
Smith and Sweeney aren’t the first private investment players to believe they can capitalize on the growing sports tech sector. They face competition from firms like Sapphire Sport and Bluestone Equity Partners. But together, they think they have an advantage. Smith, who co-founded Qualtrics back in 2002, is the majority owner of the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club. Sweeney, who is a minority owner in both those teams, is invested in at least 25 companies as a partner at Accel, according to the firm’s website, from Venmo to Hootsuite.
They view Halo Experience as a long-term play, with multiple funds to come in the future, and think their penchant for leaning on the expertise of more experienced peers will ensure their success.
“We’ve always surrounded ourselves with people who are more senior and wise,” Smith says. “If you look at [CEO] Danny Ainge running basketball [for the Jazz], it’s really a perfect combo. Because on one end you’ve got ourselves, who are younger and a young head coach [in Will Hardy], but on the other hand, you’ve got this Hall of Famer who’s been to the finals 10 times and we’re actually all working together.”
