There’s a reason the sports industry’s been limping along on tech that feels like it came free with a box of Cracker Jack. For decades, pro teams have been locked into siloed ticketing, clunky CRMs, and fan data that’s treated like a trade secret, just not by the people who actually own the teams. Then along comes Jump, the New York sports tech company co-founded by Marc Lore, Alex Rodriguez, and Jordy Leiser, and suddenly the game is different. This is not another “events” platform with a sports tab slapped on top. This is the operating system for live sports, purpose-built for the only audience that matters: the fans.
Jump’s origin reads like a postgame twist; Lore and Rodriguez lose a bid for the New York Mets in 2020, but instead of sulking, they dig in. They see the gap: teams can’t build direct relationships with their fans because they’re stuck renting the relationship from outdated systems. So they teamed with Jordy Leiser, who knows a thing or two about scaling tech that sells, and built the end-to-end solution that lets teams own every transaction, every touchpoint, every byte of fan data.
In August 2025, Jump closed a $23 million Series A led by Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six, with returning believers Forerunner Ventures, Courtside Ventures, and Will Ventures, plus new muscle from Drive by DraftKings and a personal check from Steve Malik, owner of the North Carolina Courage and North Carolina FC. The round brings total funding to about $58 million, valuing Jump north of $100 million. That’s not “hype”; that’s capital following traction.
And traction looks like this: In January 2025, the North Carolina Courage and North Carolina FC sign on, cut costs by six figures, and smash attendance records, 8,158 for the Courage’s home opener, sixth-highest in club history, with season averages up 2,600 per match. In July, Jump lands its first NBA and WNBA clients, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, conveniently co-owned by Lore and Rodriguez. The proof points are stacking.
Under the hood, this is software-as-a-service with some bite: dynamic ticketing, in-game seat upgrades, zero-fee ticket sales, white-label mobile apps, integrated merch and concessions, CRM integrations with Salesforce, Wealthbox, and HubSpot, and SOC2 Type II compliance. Built on AWS with Kubernetes orchestration, it’s as modern as the game deserves.
Marc Lore is Executive Chair, Alex Rodriguez is Strategic Advisor, Jordy Leiser runs point as CEO, with Julie Li as COO and Priya Mehra as CTO. The goal now: use this raise to sharpen the tech, sign more teams, and expand into new leagues. Because in sports, as in business, owning your relationship with the fan isn’t just smart, it’s survival. Jump isn’t asking teams to catch up to the future. It’s handing them the keys.
