Dynasty Financial Partners, a provider of platform services for registered investment advisors, has made a strategic investment in NoBull, the sneaker and athletic apparel company co-owned by entrepreneur Mike Repole and NFL legend Tom Brady. The move underscores Dynasty's accelerating push into private markets, a segment where it has now closed more than $200 million in funds over the past nine months.
The investment was made through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in partnership with Driven Capital, Repole's family office, giving Dynasty roughly a 3% stake in NoBull. The company reached a reported valuation of $1 billion earlier this year. Karim Simplis, Dynasty's director of private markets, highlighted Repole's track record, noting his history of building brands that attract major exits, including Vitaminwater and BodyArmor, both acquired by Coca-Cola.
“When you think about Mike and his team, their track record and billions in exits across a number of different deals, NoBull is their next great company that they want to build,” Simplis said. He added that Repole's playbook involves aligning with high-profile athletes, as seen with Kobe Bryant's investment in BodyArmor in 2014.
Dynasty's latest fund, the Dynasty Growth Equity & Coinvest I, closed at $110 million, contributing to the firm's $200 million private markets milestone. The firm's CEO, Shirl Penney, emphasized the demand from independent advisors for differentiated private-market opportunities. “We believe independent advisors are hungry for differentiated private-market opportunities typically only available to the world's largest investors,” Penney said in a statement.
Dynasty's network includes more than 700 financial advisors across roughly 60 partnered RIAs, including firms like OpenArc Corporate Advisory, a $129 billion Merrill Lynch breakaway, and Cyndeo Wealth Partners, which manages $3.1 billion. In June, Dynasty expanded its partnership with Allocate, a private markets access platform.
The investment in NoBull comes as Dynasty seeks to close the gap between RIAs' current and target allocations to private markets. According to KKR's 2025 RIA survey, the average allocation to private markets is just 2.3% of RIA portfolios, yet more than 80% of RIAs expect to maintain or increase exposure over the next five years. Simplis noted a “massive disconnect” between current penetration and desired levels.
Dynasty has been hosting webinars and educational programs to drive adoption of private market investing within its network. The firm has also been building out its sports-focused practice, recently adding former MLB player turned private equity investor Matt Laporta to support RIAs with sports investments. This trend is reflected in recent deals such as Apollo's minority stake in the New York Yankees and Mark Walter's sale of the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5 billion.
Simplis pointed to sports as a resilient asset class, particularly in the face of AI disruption. “You really try to focus on these opportunities where there's less disruption risk,” he said. “A lot of the disruption that's been in the headlines has been around AI, and when you think about sports, sports would be resilient to AI. So that's a great characteristic.”
