Want to own a piece of the Seahawks? The Seattle startup is unveiling its secret equity vision to fans
12 years has long been celebrated in the Pacific Northwest for their vocal support of the Seattle Seahawks. Can those fans also come together as a force for collective identity?
That’s the vision of Arrived, a Seattle-based tech startup often associated with helping everyday investors find equity in rental properties.
After a week in which reports made the sale of the Seahawks seem very close, and a few days before the team competes in the fourth Super Bowl, Arrived launched a new program to measure the interest of fans in participating in the next team ownership. Fans can use the website, which is not affiliated with the Seahawks or the NFL, to share their investment predictions and learn more.
The company’s idea is fueled by a 2024 move by NFL owners that allows private equity funds to buy stakes in teams. Arrival will serve as such a fund.
“We are building our own [home] platform around a minimum investment of $100 and making that more accessible. We would like to do the same with this,” Arrived founder and CEO Ryan Frazier told GeekWire.
The deal will include a special purpose investment vehicle where it will raise fan investment through its platform and serve as the sole private investor for the Seahawks.
Frazier figures to include 100,000 fans or more to help Arrived’s fund approach a stake of between 3% and 10% – especially considering rising franchise values and expectations that the Seahawks could fetch as much as $8 billion.
“The statistics of these teams are very high, there are few people who can stand up and get these teams,” said Frazier. “I really see this model working well where there is a lead owner and then a few other investors who can help provide a stable capital base.”
Frazier was aware for years of late Seahawks owner and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s wishes when it came to selling the team, as was done with some of Allen’s assets. But reports from ESPN and the Wall Street Journal over the weekend said a sale could happen sooner rather than later. Allen’s estate, which is chaired by his sister Jody Allen, denied that the sale would begin soon after Super Bowl LX.
“I think we’ve definitely felt a sense of urgency this week with the news that has just come out about potential sales,” Frazier said. “Seeing Jody Allen talking about how he thinks about the importance of the team to the fans of this city, we felt that maybe this is something he will support.”
Although a different model, the NFL’s Green Bay Packers are the only major professional sports team in the US that is owned by the public rather than a single billionaire or business. Founded as a publicly held, not-for-profit corporation in 1923, the group currently owns more than 538,000 shareholders who collectively own more than 5 million shares. Shares do not pay dividends, cannot be traded at a profit, and do not provide equity interest.
Private equity owners participating in NFL franchises are not allowed to have voting power. NFL.com writer Judy Battista noted in 2024 that “it won’t be like changing residences.”
“We would like the shares to play a role in the appreciation of other shareholders,” Frazier said. “We see this as an equity component and exposure to value growth.”
Three teams — the Bills, Dolphins and Chargers — have added private investors so far.
Frazier said it is inevitable that the model will spread as team values continue to grow in sports organizations and there is a strong need for minority investors. If the plan with the Seahawks doesn’t work out, he could see Fikile trying somewhere else.
Frazier, who came to Seattle from Arkansas in 2014, and co-founder Wafika Alejandro Chouza, who came from Mexico around 2010, both moved during the surge of success and popularity of the Seahawks. As locals and 12 transplants across the city and state, they have become die-hard fans, and want to know what it’s like to have a small part in hosting the team.
“You see these people, we bleed in and out of these groups every day, because it is very exciting,” said Chouza. “There wouldn’t be anything better, even if it was 50 bucks, if I had a little money, and my son had a little team – that’s priceless.”
Founded in 2019, Arrived (formerly Arrived Homes) allows people to buy fractional shares of single-family rental homes and vacation rentals for as little as $100. It is positioned as an alternative way to gain exposure to real estate without taking on full liability or managing the property.
The company identifies and acquires rental properties, then manages financing, maintenance, property management and tenant relations. Investors can buy shares in individual houses or pooled funds through the Ufikele website. They earn quarterly dividends on the rent and a share of any appreciation when the property is sold after a multi-year holding period.
Nearly 1 million registered investors have invested more than $375 million on the Arrived platform. The company says it has distributed more than $63 million and financed more than 550 properties in 65 markets in the US.
It raised $27 million in new funding last November and $25 million in a Series A round in 2022. The company, which employs 51, declined to share its current figure.
The startup’s leadership includes Frazier (formerly of Simply Measured and Sprout Social); Chouza, COO (Oyo and Uber); and CTO Kenny Cason (Measurable Easily).
Investors include Neo, Forerunner Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, Core, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
Previously:
- When the Seattle Seahawks traded, did any of the tech executives step up to the 12s?
- Inside the ‘Stranger Things’ house that a Seattle real estate agent bought and turned into Airbnb
