Spring Media Merges With Future Sports Agency And Obtains External Capital
September 16, 2021
Spring Media joins forces with Future Sports Agency and receives funding from Swedish private equity company Helix Kapital in a move to accelerate the scale up of its operation to become the market leading sports agency in the Nordics.
Spring Media works within sports rights management, TV production and digital OTT channels covering live sporting events. Partners and rights include the Swedish Damallsvenskan women’s league and the Olympic rights for Central Asia, media houses such as Bonnier and Schibsted, as well as international clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea.
– We are thrilled to be consolidating with Future Sports Agency and Helix Kapital to take the next step on our journey of expansion. Future Sports Agency complements our know-how with expertise from the buyers’ side of the sports media market, and simultaneously the investment from Helix Kapital enables us to accelerate the growth of the Group with additional company acquisitions in Sweden and abroad, says Tobias Osmund, CEO at Spring Media.
Spring Media co-founders Hans Svelander, José Moreno and Torsten Billing – all with a past at IEC in Sports and Lagardère – will remain in their current roles at Spring Media.
– The merger is a natural extension of the current Spring Media group, and together we will become even stronger. We have a unique position in the market and are able to offer any solution a federation, league or club may need to strengthen its media product – be it through advisory and strategy, rights sales, production services, streaming solutions or sponsorship packaging. All to help rights owners and partners navigate the rapidly changing sports media landscape, says Hans Svelander, co-founder of Spring Media.
Future Sports Agency was co-founded by Manfred Aronsson and Jacob Leander-Olsson. The duo accounts for a joint 30-year TV market experience, where Manfred Aronsson as the former CEO of Kanal 5, MTG and C More has sat on the buyers’ seat of many rights Spring Media represents today. Future Sports Agency currently represents the rights of Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan and Stockholm Open.
– We have followed Spring Media for several years from afar and are truly impressed by the work the team has accomplished. We bring with us valuable insight from the TV- and streaming ends, as well as ideas and customers from Future Sports to jointly create a modern, data-driven sports agency that will become market leader in the Nordics, says Manfred Aronsson, CEO at Future Sports Agency.
Tobias Osmund remains CEO of the company, Manfred Aronsson becomes Chairman of the Board, and Jacob Leander-Olsson assumes the role of Head of Business Development.