Why Craig Cooper Invests in Adventure Sports

When New Zealand-born venture capitalist Craig Cooper isn’t rock climbing, meditating or writing for his men’s health blog The New Prime, he’s looking for the next great product to invest in. As an outdoor enthusiast and co-host of US television show Adventure Capitalists, he’s spending much of his time these days investing in adventure sports.

It’s a market that reaches more than 140 million Americans and whose product sales hit over $120 billion, according to the Outdoor Industry Association.

Today, the action sport industry is innovating because of two main driving forces: GoPro and YouTube. “People are just dying for that social presence around whatever they’re doing,” Cooper says.

Smaller social sites are also serving to garner interest in specific sports and products.

Downhill Rangers, an Austria-based community website that shares videos and photos of gravity mountain biking has over 23,000 subscribers and 4.6 million video views on its YouTube channel. Likewise, Extreme.com – a site dedicated to extreme action sports – publishes daily videos ranging from BMX to mountain biking to snowboarding, enabling its uploaders to share their sport footage, and whether intentional or not, spread information about the products they’re using.

Products that employ new technologies and earn the interest of millennials across social media are ones that investors like Cooper are primed to invest in.

Cooper is the author of the Your New Prime: 30 Days to Better Sex, Eternal Strength, and a Kick-Ass Life After 40, a comprehensive guide to healthy aging for men.

He was the co-founder of Boost Mobile (USA), the managing director and head of venture capital at Saban Ventures, and a founding partner in the Softbank Capital Technology Fund.

Original article by Andrea Kramar, CNBC, September 20, 2016.