Private equity investment firm Apax Partners has announced that it has fully divested from its held stake in sports data and technology company Genius Sports.

The firm confirmed in a statement that its funds now hold no shares in Genius Sports after selling its last 10% in the company to a combination of new and existing shareholders.

Apax purchased a majority of Genius back in 2018 before taking the company public in 2021, a move that reduced its stake to just under 30%, a number that Apax has since reduced gradually through several further stock sales.  

Genius will continue with a mix of current and new shareholders, with co-founder and chief executive Mark Locke stating: “Apax has been a tremendous partner to Genius Sports, and we are grateful for their valuable insight and expertise over the last six years.

“Today marks the conclusion of a very successful partnership, and we look forward to welcoming this next chapter with the ongoing support of our high-quality institutional shareholders.”

Locke himself is now the largest shareholder in Genius, with other prominent investors including American football’s NFL, which utilizes a number of Genius services.

The two renewed their partnership deal in July 2023, with Genius committing to help the NFL power the next generation of NFL fan experiences through official data and video distribution.”

The deal, which runs through the end of the 2027-28 season, sees Genius remain as the NFL’s exclusive official data partner and its exclusive official Watch & Bet distribution partner.

Genius continues to distribute real-time play-by-play statistics, proprietary Next Gen Stats data, and the NFL’s official sports betting data feed to media companies and sports betting operators.

In addition, the deal was expanded to see Genius given the exclusive right to distribute official NFL Watch & Bet low-latency live game video feeds to sportsbooks internationally, beginning with the US and Canada from the 2023-24 season.