Award-winning producer, actress, and entrepreneur Issa Rae has invested in Unrivaled, a player-owned women’s basketball league. The league recently reached a $650 million valuation after raising more than $100 million in an oversubscribed Series C round.
Founded in 2023 by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, and Alex Bazzell, Unrivaled gives elite players a domestic offseason alternative to overseas leagues while offering six-figure salaries and equity in the company.
Rae joins an investor roster that includes Stephen Curry, Coco Gauff, Serena Williams, and Carmelo Anthony as the league continues its rapid growth.
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What is Unrivaled?
The WNBA has long faced standing criticism for poor player compensation. Players have historically received between 9-22% of total league revenue, while NBA players receive roughly 50%. During the offseason, WNBA players have often played for international clubs in countries like China, Russia, and Turkey to supplement their income. Playing year-round can lead to physical fatigue and increase injury risks. Additionally, WNBA rules have penalized some players for arriving late to training camp because of overlapping overseas commitments.
Collier’s husband, a prominent basketball trainer, Alex Bazzell, helped develop the idea for a 3v3 league, which Collier and Stewart co-founded. Instead of waiting for traditional structures to pay the players what they deserved, they built a player-owned league from scratch.
Unrivaled is a professional, player-owned women’s basketball league, featuring an elite pool of WNBA stars. The league offers players six-figure minimum salaries, which Unrivaled described as the highest average salary in professional women’s sports when it launched. The co-founders wanted to create a player-owned league, and so Unrivaled also offered all 36 inaugural players equity in the league.
But they didn’t stop there. In the first league year in 2025, Unrivaled provided players with two-bedroom apartments five minutes from the main facility at no extra cost. Players also had access to a personalized chef, state-of-the-art weight and training rooms, a glamour room, and a content creation room.
The game format differs from the WNBA 5v5 play and the Olympic 3v3 half-court rules. Unrivaled’s 3v3 format is designed for fast-paced, high-scoring games that give players room to showcase their skills and personalities. Games feature three seven-minute quarters, followed by a fourth quarter with a target score rather than a fixed time limit. Instead of a 24-second shot clock, Unrivaled features an 18-second shot clock, encouraging rapid decision-making and non-stop action.
Top stars like Kelsey Plum, Aliyah Boston, Brittney Griner, and Angel Reese have all joined. Other notable players include Paige Bueckers, Rickea Jackson, and Cameron Brink.
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Investors Behind a Growing League
Collier and Stewart knew they needed substantial funding to convince players to skip lucrative overseas contracts. Instead of pursuing traditional sports funding, they directly pitched to high-profile investors and other athletes who understood the importance of equity in women’s sports.
Unrivaled brought in former ESPN president John Skipper and former Turner Broadcasting president David Levy. These executives did more than invest; they also brought industry expertise to the league’s media rights negotiations and sponsorship sales.
The league’s star-studded investor lineup includes celebrity athletes like Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, Stephen Curry, Coco Gauff, and Carmelo Anthony. In May 2024, Unrivaled announced an oversubscribed seed round. By December, its combined seed and Series A funding had reached $35 million.
The numbers show that the league is scaling quickly. In its second season, ticket revenue rose 204%, and ticket sales jumped 249%. A game in Philadelphia drew 21,490 fans, a record for a professional women’s basketball game. A Brooklyn stop also sold out, with 18,261 fans in attendance. The league’s commissioner said revenue hit almost $45 million this year, up from $27 million in 2025.
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Issa Rae’s investment
In August, Unrivaled announced an oversubscribed Series C round that exceeded its initial $100 million target. Ten Pillar Sports Fund, backed by UC investments, led the raise. The deal valued the league at $650 million, nearly double its $340 million valuation in September 2025. The league’s player equity pool is now valued at nearly $200 million.
Rae joined through this Series C round, although the announcement did not include the size of her stake. “Unrivaled speaks to me, and everyone who wants to set new standards, and what the league has done and continues to do for the best women’s basketball players in the world is something I’m proud to invest in,” Rae said in the announcement. “After experiencing Unrivaled firsthand last season, it was clear that they’re building something special. I look forward to being part of the league’s growth and success to come.”
Although Rae’s roots are in entertainment, her investment in Unrivaled is part of a larger pattern. Earlier this fall, Rae joined the ownership group of the Los Angeles Orbit, a professional women’s volleyball team in League One Volleyball. In February, she also became a club partner in Major League Soccer’s San Diego FC, a men’s professional soccer club.
Rae’s formidable background in entertainment and media has helped shape her investments in emerging businesses and industries. Her investment portfolio includes the skincare brand Topicals; she is co-owner of Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen in Inglewood and a partner in the natural haircare line Sienna Naturals. Across beauty, entertainment, tech, and now sports, Rae is investing in brands with ambitions to drive innovation and social impact.
