# LEAD

> LEAD is a VC fund in Berlin backing Sports and Health Care. See 69 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Berlin, Germany
- Total investments: 69
- Last investment: Jul 2026
- Lead investor: 12%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lead-sports-accelerator
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/leADsports
- Website: https://www.leadsports.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leadsportsaccelerator/

LEAD is a VC fund in Berlin focused on Sports and Health Care. leAD Sports & Health Tech Partners sources, funds, and drives growth of early-stage sports & health tech startups globally. leAD was founded in 2016 and was inspired by the legend of the sports industry Adi Dassler. Since its inception, leAD has taken on new companies into its business every year. With 30 companies from around the globeunder its portfolio, leAD is constantly empowering founders to create their own legacy. leAD works with groundbreaking solutions across the verticals of fan engagement, connected athletes, and health & well-being and focuses on driving growth through smart investment, premier network access, and expert training. leAD has three three investment vehicles – Academy, Portfolio, and ADvantage Fund – and commercial partnerships with adidas, Citi Private Bank, Tavistock Group, OurCrowd, and Lake Nona to further support portfolio growth.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for LEAD. Shizune tracks 6 team members at LEAD. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/lead-sports-accelerator?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sports | 21 | 30% |
| Health Care | 13 | 19% |
| Fitness | 8 | 12% |
| Software | 6 | 9% |
| Wellness | 6 | 9% |

94 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 26 | 38% |
| Pre-Seed | 24 | 35% |
| Funding Round | 5 | 7% |
| Series A | 4 | 6% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 4 | 6% |

6 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 35 | 51% |
| United Kingdom | 5 | 7% |
| Germany | 3 | 4% |
| Canada | 2 | 3% |
| India | 1 | 1% |

14 countries tracked in total.

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Steffen Kellner | Accelerator Design & Host | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/steffen-kellner |
| Alexander Bente | Co-Founder | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alexander-bente |
| Christoph Sonnen | Co-Founder | 5 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/christoph-sonnen |
| Justin Driscoll | Principal | 3 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/justin-driscoll-1d98 |
| Moritz Kreppel | Mentor | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/moritz-kreppel |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Throne | Throne is a health company that focuses on individual gut wellness and hydration maintenance. | $10M | Series A | Jul 28, 2026 |  |
| GlobalComix | GlobalComix is a free digital reading and distribution platform that helps creators and publishers share and sell their comics. GlobalComix helps readers understand the value of artistic labor and help creators earn cash in more consistent and flexible ways. Most importantly, GlobalComix promotes cross-cultural exchange and help comics fans andmakers connect with each other in deeper, more insightful ways. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Oct 17, 2025 |  |
| Youth | Youth Inc is a digital media network and commerce marketplace focusing solely on youth sport. |  | Seed | Oct 06, 2025 |  |
| EDGE Sound Research | EDGE Sound Research seeks to connect people closer to a moment by blurring the line between the real and virtual worlds. It is game-changing technology that serves as the foundation for a new sonic dimension. | $2.8M | Seed | Jul 08, 2025 |  |
| StimScience | StimScience is focused on commercializing our breakthrough neuroscience and sleep research into life-changing products and services for individuals, employers, and health plans.Our team has spent decades pioneering sleep research and non-invasive, personalized brain stimulation applications. It includes world-renowned scientists and advisors Dr.Matthew Walker, Ph.D., Dr. Rich Ivry, Ph.D., Dr. Robert Knight, M.D., Dr. Ram Gurumoorthy, and former Fitbit, Google, and Samsung employees.With initial funding from Khosla Ventures, we are building a world-class team to launch Somnee, our advanced diagnostic and therapeutic products that help people fall asleep faster and with longer, higher-quality restorative sleep.Why Sleep? As our founding Chief Science Advisor, Dr Matthew Walker wrote in his bestselling book, "Why We Sleep", “Sleep is the most important thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day.” Sleep health is central to mental health, long-term memory, learning, and physical fitness. Despite its importance, one in three adults gets an unhealthy amount of sleep, and 51% of people are dissatisfied with their sleep.Sleep is one of the most critical functions of the brain, and our deep understanding of the neuroscience of sleep uniquely positions us to help solve the sleep health epidemic. | $10M | Seed | Jun 10, 2025 |  |
| Cambio Roasters | Cambio Roasters specializes in the fields of food and beverages. The company was established in 2018 and is based in Isle Of Palms, South Carolina. |  | Seed | May 30, 2025 |  |
| DryWater | Water reinvented from earths most natural resources — in it’s rawest form. Hydration powder made with essential nutrients our bodies need to function optimally. Try Dry Water today! Vegan. Gluten-Free. Zero Calorie. Non-GMO |  | Seed | May 30, 2025 |  |
| VisioLab | VisioLab combines human-centric artificial intelligence with the responsibility of making data-driven decisions in order to establish a more sustainable agricultural economy. VisioLab was founded by Tim Niekamp and Justin Shenk. |  | Seed | Apr 30, 2025 |  |
| Locker Corp. | Connecting people to their passions by building online marketplaces for niche sports communities. | $700K | Seed | Jan 15, 2025 |  |
| Sol Health | Sol Health offers personalized therapy to Gen Z for $30/session by connecting them with therapists-in-training. Our mission is to address the root cause behind the mental health crisis today: the nationwide therapist shortage. Specifically, 57% of therapists-in-training are abandoning their careers before getting licensed due to lack ofsupport while accruing clinical hours, which is fueling this shortage. Sol Health empowers these therapists-in-training by providing the supervision, training, and resources that traditional placement sites have failed to provide, and in turn, we unlock a diverse pool of eager clinicians that are perfectly fit to serve our nation's youth from a generational and cultural perspective. |  | Seed | Nov 30, 2024 |  |

10 of 69 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Locker Room Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/locker-room-capital-bb39) — VC Fund, 7 deals together
- [Lake Nona Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lake-nona-fund) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [Seaside Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/seaside-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Tavistock Life Sciences](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/tavistock-group) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Tavistock Life Sciences](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/tavistock-life-sciences) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Adi Dassler International Family Office](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/adi-dassler-international-family-office) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does LEAD invest in?

LEAD invests primarily in Sports, Health Care and Fitness startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 69 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact LEAD?

Public channels for LEAD include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at LEAD?

The team at LEAD includes Steffen Kellner (Accelerator Design & Host), Alexander Bente (Co-Founder) and Christoph Sonnen (Co-Founder), among 6 team members tracked by Shizune. The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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