Play Time Research
Investment Thesis
Play Time (operating as Play Time Sports-Tech HoldCo) is a San Francisco-based investment and incubation platform co-founded in October 2022 by football legend Lionel Messi and Razmig Hovaghimian, who runs the firm day-to-day. Hovaghimian previously co-founded the video-streaming site Viki, sold to Rakuten for roughly $200M, and was a partner at Graph Ventures before launching Play Time. Michael Marquez, founding partner of investment bank Code Advisors and the seed fund Morado, serves as special adviser and co-lead. The firm describes its mission as "building a strong bridge between football's 5 billion fans and technology," leveraging Messi's global reach to back companies at the intersection of sports, media, and technology. Since 2022, the firm's remit has visibly widened from sports-tech into AI infrastructure and foundation-model companies, reflecting a broader "capitalizing on singular talent" mandate rather than a narrow sector fund.
Sector Focus
Play Time's public portfolio spans two clusters. The original cluster is sports and fan-engagement technology: football gaming (Matchday), sports memorabilia/collectibles marketplaces (AC Momento). The newer, larger cluster is AI infrastructure and applied AI: spatial/world-model AI (World Labs), physical-world foundation models (Perceptron), data infrastructure for AI training (SuperAnnotate), AI-native 3D content creation for creative teams (Intangible), general-purpose robotics autonomy (FieldAI), and voice AI/TTS (Fish Audio). This spread suggests the firm is stage-agnostic and thesis-driven around founder pedigree (e.g., Fei-Fei Li at World Labs, ex-Meta researchers at Perceptron) rather than a single vertical.
Stage Focus
Play Time describes itself publicly as "stage agnostic." In practice, its earliest, most hands-on bets (AC Momento, Matchday) were seed-stage investments where the firm played an incubation role. Its more recent AI investments (Fish Audio's $52M seed, World Labs' $1B round at a $5B valuation) show the firm participating as one of several syndicate members in both early and growth-stage rounds, rather than always leading.
Check Size
No specific check-size range is publicly disclosed. The firm's first fund/holding vehicle is reported at roughly $200M. Given participation in both a small seed round (AC Momento) and a $1B late-stage round (World Labs) as a syndicate member, individual check sizes likely vary widely and skew smaller relative to headline round sizes in the larger AI rounds.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. Play Time incubated Matchday and made the first seed check into AC Momento, both of which suggest a lead/originator role in its sports-tech bets. In its AI investments (Fish Audio, World Labs), it appears as one name among many co-investors (e.g., Coreline Ventures, Capital Today, 359 Capital, HF0, 645 Ventures, Parable, Carya, Alphalist Partners in the Fish Audio round), indicating a follow/participant role there.
Recent Activity
- July 2026: Participated in Fish Audio's $52M seed round (co-led by Coreline Ventures and Capital Today), alongside 359 Capital, HF0, 645 Ventures, Parable, Carya, and Alphalist Partners.
- February 2026: Named among investors in World Labs' $1B round at a $5B valuation, alongside Nvidia, AMD, Autodesk, Fidelity, and Emerson Collective.
- March 2023: Backed Matchday's $21M seed round (Web3/mobile football gaming), alongside Courtside Ventures, Greylock, HackVC, Capricorn Investment Group, and Horizons Ventures; Matchday was incubated by Play Time.
- October 2022: Made its first seed investment in AC Momento (football memorabilia marketplace) at firm launch.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable names include World Labs (Fei-Fei Li's spatial-intelligence company, now valued at $5B), Perceptron (physical-world foundation models founded by ex-Meta researchers), Fish Audio (fast-growing open-source-rooted voice AI platform with $21M ARR at time of its seed round), SuperAnnotate (established AI data-infrastructure company), FieldAI (general-purpose robot autonomy), Intangible (AI-native 3D creative tooling), Matchday (FIFA-partnered mobile football gaming), and AC Momento (football memorabilia auctions).
Team
- Razmig Hovaghimian, Co-Founder & Managing Partner: Runs Play Time day-to-day. Previously co-founded Viki (video streaming), sold to Rakuten for ~$200M in 2013; also led Hoodline and was a partner at Graph Ventures.
- Lionel Messi, Co-Founder & Partner: Provides the firm's brand, network, and global sports/fan reach via Messi Group; not involved in day-to-day operations.
- Michael Marquez, Special Adviser: Founding partner of investment bank Code Advisors and the Morado seed fund; co-leads deal sourcing and structuring.
Decision Process
Operates as a small partnership: Hovaghimian runs operations, with Marquez as a deal-sourcing co-lead and Messi contributing brand/network value rather than day-to-day decisions. No evidence of a larger investment committee.
Founder Preferences
Play Time has backed founders with unusually strong pedigree or singular expertise in their domain — an AI godmother (Fei-Fei Li), ex-Meta AI researchers (Perceptron's founders), and category-defining technical builders (Fish Audio's founder, a former Nvidia researcher) — alongside sports-native founders building for football's global fanbase (Matchday, AC Momento).
Geographic Focus
Headquartered in San Francisco; portfolio companies are concentrated in the US, with Matchday also noted as having a Barcelona presence given Messi's footballing ties.