This week’s guest on the Sports Loft Podcast is Michael Proman, managing director of Scrum Ventures – a seed stage investment platform that counts large Japanese corporations among its investor base, and uses that network to grow its investments and help them break into Asia. Founded by Japanese serial entrepreneur Tak Miyata in 2013, Scrum began life as a generalist VC firm, “investing in pretty much anything under the sun,” says Michael. That all changed in the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, when Scrum’s investors – including the likes of Panasonic, Fujitsu and Mizuno – became interested in the opportunities around in sports, media and entertainment. Now, the remit is to find companies that “transcend the vertical” – those that relate to sports, health or entertainment, but might have a total addressable market (TAM) beyond those definitions. “If I look at the first dozen investments we've made,” says Michael. “A lot are either outside of sports, change the definition of sports and entertainment, or show the evolution of what sports and entertainment means in a 2024 perspective.” Timestamps: 01:23 – Introducing Scrum Ventures 08:00 – The importance of relationships in the Japanese market 20:00 – The attraction of tech that transcends the sports vertical 25:00 – Valuing companies and finding growth opportunities 30:00 – The importance of partnerships  36:00 – Scrum's approach to supporting its investments 41:00 – Investing in IP and other growth areas