Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian wants more female sports collectibles, according to a recent tweet directed at Funko, a company that manufactures vinyl toys of pop culture figures.
Ohanian, who is married to tennis star Serena Williams, asked the company to release a line of its signature Funko Pops for the National Women’s Soccer League (NSWL), after praising its new collection for the U.S. women’s national team.
“Hey @OriginalFunko love @USWNT but when @NWSL?” said Ohanian.
Funko’s vast licensing agreements have allowed for thousands of different Funko Pop toys depicting real and fictional characters across the entertainment industry, politics and sports. While the Washington-based company brought in $1.3 billion worth of net sales in 2022, a 29 percent increase from the previous year, it also reported an increased debt of 42 percent, totaling $245.8 million.
The company additionally revealed it intends to “eliminate” $30 million to $36 million worth of inventory in order to meet the operating capacity of its distribution center, according to Funko’s most recent earnings report.
Hey @OriginalFunko love @USWNT but when @NWSL? pic.twitter.com/eAzJtGgEOo
— Alexis Ohanian 🗽 (@alexisohanian) April 7, 2023
Ohanian, who stepped down from Reddit’s board in 2020 after asking to be replaced by a black candidate, is also the founder of Seven Seven Six, a venture capital firm that manages more than $750 million of assets. He previously co-founded Initialized Capital, another venture capital company, and worked at venture firm Y Combinator.
Why has Ohanian invested in female sports collectibles?
Ohanian is on the board of Alt, a platform that offers opportunities to invest in sports cards and launched in 2021 with $31 million in seed and Series A funding, the latter of which was raised in a Feb. 2021 funding round led by Seven Seven Six.
In Nov. 2021, Ohanian’s venture capital firm participated again in a funding round that raised $75 million for Alt.
A sports card and Funko Pop collector himself, Ohanian has previously emphasized the growing importance of female athletes in the sports memorabilia market. He claimed that women have been undervalued in the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and trading card industries in a March 2021 Twitter thread.
“These markets are male-dominated right now,” tweeted Ohanian, adding that the billion-dollar industries are “ignoring half the world (for now).”
Ohanian has particularly focused on women’s soccer, becoming a co-founder and leading investor at Angel City FC, an NWSL expansion team that began its inaugural season in 2022. The team’s ownership group includes Williams and actress Natalie Portman, among others.
And when he received the 2022 Champion for Equality Award from the Women’s Sports Foundation, Ohanian emphasized the importance of a safe work environment at the NWSL in light of the Yates report, which found widespread sexual misconduct and abuse throughout the league.
Through Seven Seven Six, Ohanian also led a $3 million seed round in March 2021 for Gloria, a startup social media app for soccer players which aims to increase recruitment opportunities. He is additionally an angel investor for Sorare, a digital platform that focuses on soccer collectibles.
Funko and representatives for Ohanian did not respond to requests for comment.
