Bluestone Equity Partners

In this month’s Private Equity International-Buyouts, our Founder & Managing Partner, Bobby Sharma, shares an expert commentary on Bluestone's approach to value creation in the #Sports, #Media & #Entertainment industry (SME) — a fast-growing, often misunderstood space in #PrivateEquity. A great read for LPs seeking differentiated exposure and experienced perspective. Excerpts below, click for full article: “𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦, 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘔𝘌 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺-𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯-𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘚𝘔𝘌’𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘪𝘹 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳, 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘭𝘥-𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘍𝘖𝘔𝘖 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘮… 𝘛𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 – 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 – 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴, 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺-𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘓𝘗 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺… 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘔𝘌 𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴, 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘔𝘌 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘷𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘥𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤, 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.”

"'We think there's tremendous value with live entertainment experiences,' said [Bluestone Founder & Managing Partner Bobby] Sharma. 'Part of our investment thesis is to find high-growth, high-barrier-to-entry businesses, to which we can add value.'... While other private equity professionals have seen a slowdown in the dealmaking climate that kicked off this year, Sharma has seen the opposite. 'We continue to see high-volume, high-quality deal flow and have been able to identify businesses with significant potential that can be unlocked by our truly value-added capital,' he said.”

🌟 Mary D'Souza, Tim Ledbetter, CAIA, Robert Zuccaro, CFA, 𝗞𝘆𝗹𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝘅, Arjun Thampan and Bobby Sharma had a great discussion, sharing their perspectives on emerging, niche, and non-correlated strategies at the family Office Winter Forum 2025. #OpalGroup #OpalGroupFOWF #Strategies #Finance

Just wrapped my 21st NBA All-Star Weekend in the great city of San Francisco. While I continue to marvel at the perpetual growth and progress of the National Basketball Association (NBA) generally since my decade run there ended 14 years ago, I can't help having particular pride in my league within it — the NBA G League (to me, forever the D-League). It seems like yesterday it first had any presence at all during NBA ASW (i.e., a segment on the court at NBA Jam Session), and now the G-League is front and center (and thriving) on the biggest of stages, an integral and permanent part of the global basketball system. We went from 6 G-League teams my first season, to 16 in my last, with 23% of players then having NBA playing experience (initially just call-ups, but eventually also Collective Bargain Agreement-integrated assignments). This season, for the first time all 30 NBA teams have an owned and operated NBA G-League team, with the majority of those players having played in the NBA. However cliché, it is literally a place where dreams come true, and having helped establish it is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, not just career. Forever grateful to Phil Evans, (the late great) David Stern, and (fellow Duke University and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP alum) Adam Silver for the opportunity of a lifetime, and for all they taught me. Starting a professional sports league anywhere is an enormous challenge — as many people today are learning / can attest to. You must deal with literally every part of the #Sports, #Media & #Entertainment ecosystem and its various value chains (especially in a single-entity model as we started with, effectively having to manage and grow all team businesses, and the business of the league itself). But I was fortunate to have extremely talented, dedicated, and hard-working colleagues alongside me, and we were fortunate to have the many brilliant people and unparalleled resources of the NBA League Office behind us. Along the way, the challenges were many and often complex, and the stories endless and at times legendary. Nobody ever “wrote the book” as we often joked, but I hope someday somebody does. Chris Alpert, Chris Lauten, Terrance "Doc" Martin, Karl Hicks, Scott O'Neil, Donna Daniels, Stacy McWilliams, Dan Reed, Shawn H.P. Smith, Monique Epps, Bryan Bullock, Seth Denton, CMA, John Manyo-Plange, Abby Bell, Reggie Saunders, Kevin Carr, Kent Partridge, Joanna Shapiro, Maureen Coyle, Daniel Rube, Jon Israel, Jeanie Buss, RC Buford, Christopher Arena, and so many more…

Season's Greetings from Bluestone!

Excited to announce that Bluestone Equity Partners has led a $60 million investment round in Players Health!   We’re proud to partner with visionary CEO Tyrre B. and his team as they transform sports insurance and risk management. Players Health has driven innovation in youth sports by integrating insurance, risk management, and tech-driven solutions to create safer, more efficient sports organizations. Building on their success in youth sports, they’re now expanding into collegiate and professional sports, further broadening their impact across the industry.   At Bluestone, we invest in high-growth companies shaping the future of sports, media, and entertainment, and Players Health is exactly that!   This is our seventh investment out of our $300M Growth/Buyout Fund I, focused on #sports, #media, and #entertainment -- sectors poised for significant growth and private equity value creation in the years ahead. https://lnkd.in/e2w-wcNY

Proud to announce the latest addition to the Bluestone Equity Partners portfolio: Players Health. Founded by former professional football player Tyrre B., Players Health is the leading provider of #insurance products, #risk management services, and #reporting tools for amateur and professional #sports organizations across America — empowering them to stay ahead of ever-changing and all-important #safety and #compliance responsibilities, leveraging its proprietary #data-driven and #tech-enabled platform, and deep industry knowledge. Literally every youth, recreational, collegiate, and even pro sports program and facility stands to gain value from its unique products and services, custom-tailored to benefit and protect each entity. Current clients include prominent National Governing Bodies (#NGB's), platforms, and operators, such as USA Softball, US Youth Soccer, 3STEP Sports, RCX Sports, and Orangetheory Fitness. Players Health will use this significant value-added #privateequity capital injection to accelerate #growth on several fronts, including category-owning drivers such as #AI product-personalization and #strategic M&A to expand market reach and capabilities. This investments marks the 7th for Bluestone Equity Partners out of its $300M Fund I, now over 2/3 (i.e., $200M+) deployed in 22 months since its single-closing in January 2023 — beginning to round-out a very strategic and synergistic #Sports, #Media & #Entertainment portfolio of high-growth, high barrier-to-entry assets, tracking to true #growthequity returns.

Thanks to Joe Pompliano and Yahoo Sports for hosting Bluestone Equity Partners Founder & Managing Partner Bobby Sharma on the One-on-One segment (@ 7:32) during this evening’s broadcast of the “Sports Finance Report”. Bobby shares thoughts and insights on his professional journey through the #Sports #Media & #Entertainment industry, now intersecting with the #Finance industry, including how seriously we at Bluestone take our responsibility as stewards of institutional capital, always looking for the best possible risk-adjusted returns with liquidity for our investors.

Bluestone Equity Partners Invests in Volo Sports, the Nation’s Largest Social and Recreational Sports Network (Official Press Release)

Thanks Bloomberg for the exclusive feature on Bluestone Equity Partners’ 6th portfolio company out of our $300M Growth/Buyout Fund I — Volo Sports, the largest social & recreational sports business in America. We’re particularly fond of this company, and proud of this investment — one representing the future of an entire sector within the #Sports, #Media & #Entertainment industry. In true Bluestone fashion, a deal reflective of the unique vision and relentless discipline our truly value-added, specialized capital brings to the #PrivateEquity market. Vision: identifying, nurturing, and enabling a proprietary value creation opportunity at scale — in aggregate, social recreational sports in the United States has been measured as a $4.6B sector — hidden in plain sight, with a long tail of localized fragmentation. Discipline: researching, strategizing, and executing a market approach, building towards a true growth return profile, and structuring with an ability to add the full weight of our global industry expertise and relationships — including synergies with existing Bluestone companies, a key element of our thoughtful portfolio construction. As discussed with Bloomberg: “We’re looking to grow revenue and value through consolidation, and also by investing in people, technology, and operations. But primarily there is a massive M&A opportunity here that we will enable.” A very warm welcome to the Bluestone family to Volo Sports and its Founder & CEO Giovanni Marcantoni. We look forward to building and growing the Sports, Media & Entertainment economy together.