League One Volleyball Raises $35 Million to Serve Growing Fanbase
Volleyball in America is having a moment, and League One Volleyball (LOVB) is hoping to maintain that momentum with its soon-to-debut new pro league.
The Los Angeles-based venture, founded in 2020, recently raised $35 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Left Lane Capital, with support from Ares Management as well as individuals including Olympic skiing gold medalist Lindsey Vonn, four-time NBA All-Star Jayson Tatum, Fenway Sports Group partner Linda Henry, comedian Amy Schumer and two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker. Kevin Durant’s Boardroom Sports Holdings, an existing investor, contributed new funding, too.
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League One co-founder and CEO Katlyn Gao said that more than 50% of the round’s investors were women.
With plans to launch next year, LOVB has established teams in Atlanta, Houston, Madison, Wisc., Omaha, Neb., and Salt Lake City, with one more market to be announced. It already has a footprint in each of those locations, thanks to the network of 43 youth-level clubs it has built that now includes more than 1,100 teams across 21 states.
“We’ve definitely had folks that said, ‘Well this youth thing, isn’t that pretty complicated?’” Gao said in an interview. “We stuck to our guns to say this is the right, disciplined approach, and we’re here to build a legacy league.”
Another league, the Pro Volleyball Federation, plans to start play next year, with its own list of athlete and celebrity backers. Athletes Unlimited, meanwhile, has launched its volleyball competition as the sport draws pro-level attention following participation growth. From 2002 to 2022, the number of girls playing in high school increased 15%. The U.S. women’s national team claimed its first Olympic gold in indoor volleyball with a win over Brazil in 2021 and currently ranks No. 2 in the world heading into the ‘24 Games.
“Volleyball has been a top three sport for young girls in the U.S. for decades, garnering millions of views across NCAA and Olympic broadcasts,” Left Lane Capital investor Rachel Schow said in a statement. “We see LOVB as an opportunity to invest in a professional league with a built-in youth fanbase before the first match is played.”
In August, the University of Nebraska set a women’s sports attendance record when more than 92,000 fans watched the five-time NCAA champion Cornhuskers take on Omaha outdoors at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.
“What’s obviously a popular sport has been completely underserved,” Gao said. “What we wanted to create was this very unique business model that connects the community at the youth level to what we think could be the NBA of volleyball at the pro level.”
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