SMRF Capital

SMRF Capital

SMRF Capital was established to channel institutional capital into sports intellectual property, a sector the firm's founding partners argue is poised for explosive new growth driven by digital consumption and global fan engagement. The three founders — Claude Ruibal, formerly Global Head of Sports Content Partnerships at Google and YouTube; Marcus Luer, founder of Asian sports-marketing agency Total Sports Asia; and David Saab, a J.P. Morgan fixed-income veteran and former Head of Portfolio Management at Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild — bring combined expertise across sports monetization, media rights, and structured finance. They target contracted revenue streams from broadcast, commercial and digital rights, aiming to provide investors access to an asset class they describe as decorrelated from traditional financial markets. The firm's strategy centers on securitizing media-rights contracts and related commercial and digital revenue of professional and amateur sports organizations globally. SMRF structures direct investments that give sports rights owners growth capital in exchange for a claim on contractual income, a model distinct from both traditional private equity and venture capital. The founders cite a pipeline of identified investments spanning multiple sports and geographies, and the firm's approach deliberately targets under-exploited digital and data rights that can be commercialized with greater discipline. Geographic focus covers Europe, Asia and North America, reflecting the partners' operational histories across FIFA, World Rugby, the NFL, NASCAR, PGA Tour, and Asian sports leagues. The firm operates from London with no public headcount or AUM disclosure. Its founding partners rely on a network of specialized executives and advisors in finance and sports IP rather than a large in-house team. Adjacent vehicles or philanthropic structures are not disclosed. The website references prior experience managing alternative financial-investment vehicles but does not publish a track record as a unified entity. The structural differentiator is SMRF's explicit focus on securitizing — rather than simply acquiring — sports rights. By treating media and commercial contracts as income-producing assets that can be underwritten and structured into investable vehicles, the firm occupies a narrow intersection of structured credit, specialty finance and sports private equity — a posture few peers have formalized into a dedicated mandate.