Naomi Osaka to team with Lebron James, Drake in launching sports technology company

Already a global superstar due to her exploits in tennis and fashion, Naomi Osaka has teamed up with two other icons to initiate a new enterprise that centers around sports technology.

Osaka has teamed up with NBA superstar Lebron James and rapper Drake to invest in a sports technology company called StatusPRO. Conceived by two former football players, Andrew Hawkins and Troy Jones, the firm describes themselves as a sports tech and gaming company that incorporates player’s data and augmented and virtual reality to create a bevvy of training and fan engagement products.

Naomi Osaka, a strategic investor for the company praised the duo sharing, “I look for investment opportunities that can have a lasting impact on culture and society – and StatusPRO is poised to do that. It’s not only going to influence gaming and entertainment (two things I am passionate about), but also the way athletes can train and analyze their performance."

The sports tech firm is part of a growing industry that is projected to be worth $57 billion USD by 2027. StatusPro currently has partnerships with a number of NFL teams including the Baltimore Ravens, the NFL Players Association and NCAA collegiate teams. Additional investors for the company include Verizon, KB Partners, Greycroft and Leeds United stakeholders.

Hawkins and Jones are amongst the less than one percent of Black entrepreneurs who receive funding from traditional venture capitalist firms. Hawkins said, “It’s incredibly humbling that pioneers of their level believe in us as founders and in our vision for this industry. We always say StatusPRO is only as strong as our team, and our team just got a whole lot stronger.”