Nate Raabe, NFL QB Aaron Rodgers, and Roth Capital CEO Byron Roth co-founded RX3 Growth Partners to invest in startup companies.
RX3 was launched in 2018 and positioned itself as a growth capital firm backed by celebrities and athletes (roughly half of the investor base) and professional investors.
RX3 was part of a $34M Series A round for Nom Nom in 2020. This came amid a nationwide pet adoption crisis that saw over 23 million Americans adopt pets. The firm’s prominent investors enjoyed the bounty.
“The pet category as a whole, even beyond food, whether it’s in the veterinary space, accessories, different types of animals—that’s definitely a category we really like and are going to continue to get behind,” Raabe said.
“NFL players love their pets to death,” Bills QB and RX3 investor Josh Allen said via email. “They are huge stress and anxiety relievers.” As a doodle owner himself, he said investing in dog-related brands made complete sense.
Nom Nom’s growth strategy worked. Last year, Mars Pet Care acquired the startup, and RX3 saw an annualized return of over 100%.
That was one of five exits RX3 has already achieved as it also continues investing in businesses more typically aligned with athletes, such as Therabody, Manscaped, and Corepower Yoga.
Athletes continue to make significant investments with positive returns.