ESPN
935 Middle Street, Bristol, CT, 06010, United States
Overview
ESPN is a multinational and multimedia sports entertainment company that features a wide collection of multimedia sports assets. It features sports assets with over 50 business entities. The company’s sports media assets include ESPN on ABC; six domestic cable television networks, including ESPN, ESPN2 ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, and ESPNU; ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD; ESPN Regional Television; ESPN International which includes 31 international networks and syndication; ESPN Radio; ESPN.com; ESPN The Magazine; ESPN Enterprises; ESPN Zones; ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile Properties; ESPN On Demand; ESPN Interactive; and ESPN PPV. ESPN is 80 percent owned by [ABC, Inc.](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/abc) and 20 percent by The Hearst Corporation. ESPN was founded in 1979 and is based in Bristol, Connecticut.
- Total investments
- 2
- Lead investments
- 0
- Investments · 12mo
- 1
- Active investors
- 10
Sector focus
- Fantasy Sports
- Journalism
- Media and Entertainment
- Sports
- TV
- Video Streaming
Investment portfolio
- Premier Lacrosse League
Participated · Series E · Jun 2026
The Premier Lacrosse League is a men’s professional lacrosse league composed of eight teams in North America, founded and led by Paul and Mike Rabil. The league has an existing media-rights partnership with ESPN, which will also be a minority equity investor following the $100 million financing. Leadership says the funds will be used to build infrastructure to support growth through elite competition, broader distribution, increased youth participation, and a stronger professional ecosystem. The PLL is coordinating with the Women’s Lacrosse League on shared initiatives and plans to establish teams in Texas, with Glen Powell joining as a Creative Advisor to help those efforts. The league is positioning itself ahead of lacrosse’s return to the Olympics and has 2026 seasons slated to air on ESPN platforms and ABC.
- TRUSTX
Participated · Equity · Apr 2018
Trustx is a cooperative programmatic advertising marketplace where buyers and sellers can test and measure ad monetization models. The company is led by President and CEO David Kohl and Chief Revenue Officer John Vilade and launched in beta in May 2017. It operates as a collaborative marketplace with 35 premium publishers signed on as members. As of the article, 22 publishers and hundreds of advertisers are live and trading on the platform. Trustx secured $2.2M in growth funding from backers including CBSi, ESPN, Meredith, FOX News and NBCUniversal. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the growth of its marketplace.