Pro Football Focus (PFF), the sports analytics firm owned by broadcaster and former NFL player Cris Collinsworth, sold a minority stake to private equity firm Silver Lake.
The new investment will help further grow PFF’s proprietary data platform and further accelerate the company’s data science capabilities, digital consumer offering and planned expansion of the company’s best-in-class analytics into new sports leagues and use cases. The funds will assist in Pro Football Focus’ expansion into soccer with a set of tools slated to launch next year, as well as the development of a rugby product.
Silver Lake has experience investing in businesses across the global sports and technology ecosystems, partnering with management teams and helping companies develop consumer offerings that leverage data science capabilities and consumers’ experience.
Cris Collinsworth, PFF’s chairman and majority owner, said, “We are very excited to partner with Silver Lake for the next stage of PFF’s growth. PFF had been approached by many potential investors, but Silver Lake was different. The expertise, insights, relationships and passion that the Silver Lake team brings to this new partnership are extremely impressive and will help us continue to scale at pace. We are confident our customers will quickly feel the benefit of our Silver Lake partnership with the rapid expansion of new products and services.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Cris Collinsworth, Neil Hornsby and the rest of the PFF team in supporting the company as it drives continued growth and expansion,” said Silver Lake Co-CEO Egon Durban and Managing Director Stephen Evans. “PFF has established itself as an innovator and leading data and analytics solution that generates incredible insights for sports teams, media companies and consumers alike. We look forward to partnering with Cris, Neil and their team to help them further scale and accelerate their impressive growth trajectory.”
Silver Lake is making the investment in its long-term capital strategy, which was established in 2020. Western & Southern, with existing investors, will remain invested in PFF alongside Silver Lake.
Photo courtesy Cincinnati Business Courier
