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Three young stars bet ownership over endorsement fees in a luxury EV maker that ships 200 cars a year—signaling athlete capital is hunting edge cases, not sure things.
$300,000
did not disclose the size of the round or…
90 days
Karma's most recent production run
147 units
in the U
203 units
in 2023
Anthony Edwards, Kyler Murray, and Bryce Young led a coalition of professional athletes into an equity position in Karma Automotive, the California-based ultra-luxury electric vehicle manufacturer, the company announced Monday. The athletes invested through a newly formed entity called Karma Athlete Investors, bypassing the traditional endorsement structure in favor of direct ownership.
Karma Automotive, which builds vehicles priced between $200,000 and $300,000, did not disclose the size of the round or the athletes' collective stake. The company confirmed the investment group includes additional players whose names will be announced over the next 90 days. Karma's most recent production run, the 2024 Revero GT, shipped 147 units in the U.S. last year, down from 203 units in 2023, according to filings reviewed by the Sports Edge desk. The company has not published revenue figures since its 2014 acquisition out of Fisker Automotive's bankruptcy.
The shift from endorsement to equity follows a pattern that accelerated after Kevin Durant's $35 million Postmates gain in 2020 and LeBron James' $30 million Blaze Pizza position. What differs here is the demographic cohort and the product category. Edwards, 23, signed a $244 million extension with Minnesota in July. Murray, 27, carries a $230 million deal with Arizona. Young, 23, is on a $37 million rookie contract with Carolina. All three are represented by agencies with established alternative-investment desks—Edwards by Excel Sports Management, Murray by Athletes First, Young by CAA—suggesting the deal was structured with tax efficiency and liquidity timelines already mapped.
The risk profile is steep. Karma competes in a segment where Lucid burned $2.4 billion in cash last year and Fisker—again—filed for Chapter 11 in June. Karma's advantage, if it has one, is volume expectation: the company does not promise 100,000-unit years. It builds 200 cars annually for clients who want a garage ornament that isn't a Bugatti. The athletes are betting on brand heat in a category where scarcity is the product, not scale.
The announcement included no imagery of the athletes with the vehicles, no press tour, no Instagram carousel. That absence is the tell. This is not a marketing play. The athletes are not being paid to post. They are being given board observation rights and quarterly P&L access, according to a person familiar with the terms. Karma's existing backers include Wanxiang Group, the Chinese auto-parts conglomerate that acquired the company for $149 million in 2014. The new athlete investors will not have voting control, but they will have visibility into cash-burn rate and production timelines, which means their agents will too.
Watch for two follow-on moves. First, Karma is expected to announce a 2025 Kaveya production target in Q1, a four-door coupe that would price closer to $150,000 and theoretically triple addressable volume. Second, the remaining athlete investors will be named before the NBA playoffs begin in April, likely timed to coincide with a product reveal at a U.S. auto show. If Karma can deliver 400 units in 2025 without additional dilution, the athletes' entry price will look clever. If cash runs out before production ramps, they will have paid for a lesson in why most athletes still take the endorsement check.
The deal marks the first time a coalition of active Black athletes has collectively taken equity in an automotive manufacturer. That fact alone will generate secondary interest from other player groups and from brands that have historically structured partnerships as cash-and-product trades. Karma's CFO is now fielding calls from agents who want to understand the terms.
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