Velocity Capital Management, an operationally intensive middle market private equity firm with deep domain sports, media and entertainment expertise, today announced that it has signed an agreement to make a strategic investment of more than $100 Million and acquire an ownership stake in Unique Sports Group, a leading independent, UK-based, football talent representation agency.

Founded in 2008 with just a single client, USG has seen significant organic growth over the past 17 years to become a top-five globally ranked football talent agency representing elite athletes in the English Premier League, the Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1 and other major global leagues. The agency is highly respected by and integrated with club owners, sporting directors, academies and key decision makers across the football ecosystem. More recently, USG has also expanded its network into global cricket and is now representing a host of international stars.

Since inception, USG has specialized in providing players with a differentiated value proposition focused on taking a holistic approach to player representation and advising players throughout their careers on how best to achieve their goals both on and off the pitch. USG also acts as a problem solver for football clubs, assessing their needs, identifying gaps and pioneering the use of sporting data to proactively identify the right players to enhance club performance. USG has recently made several strategic hires recruiting Steve Hitchen former Tottenham Director of Football to lead the Company’s club relationships, and Omar Ismail as Chief Financial Officer from CAA Stellar.

USG represents more than 350 footballers globally with estimated combined transfer market values exceeding £1.0 billion, including: Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace and England Center-Back), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur & Wales Forward), Jacob Ramsey (Aston Villa Midfielder), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United & England Forward) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (West Ham Defender), plus emerging stars in Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal Forward) and Lewis Miley (Newcastle United Midfielder), among other Premier League and international top-league clients.

“We are proud of the business we have built over the past fifteen years and believe that there is a significant opportunity to strategically scale our platform further,” said Will Salthouse, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of USG. “We have been actively engaged in identifying the right partner to help us achieve our go-forward ambitions and we have been incredibly impressed with Velocity and the firm’s team. Their capabilities, professional network, holistic value-add approach and expertise across the sports, media and entertainment sectors will be invaluable in helping us consider a broad array of strategic options, including organic expansion and strategic M&A. We are excited to start working with Velocity to capitalize on the tailwinds within our industry and expand our platform globally.”

David Abrams, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Velocity, said, “We are thrilled to welcome the Unique team to the Velocity family. We have cultivated a strong personal and professional relationship with the USG team over the past three years, and we collectively recognized that this was the right time for us to complete an investment in the Company and support USG on the next phase of their growth. USG have built an outstanding business, and we believe we can leverage our football industry expertise and relationships to drive their business forward.”

Arne Rees, Co-Founder and Partner of Velocity, said, “USG is an incredibly dynamic company and is at the right inflection point in its growth trajectory to perfectly align with Velocity’s investment thesis. We believe that capital flows will continue in the global football industry and that USG is well positioned to benefit from this trend. I am excited to leverage my experience in the football industry from my roles at UEFA, Bundesliga America and ESPN to assist USG in executing on its business plan.”

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