Red Bull Studios links with Finnish investment fund IPR.VC for sports docs
Red Bull Studios has been behind films such as Dakar: Race Against the Desert
Red Bull Studios and Finnish investment fund IPR.VC have entered a multi-year alliance to finance a slate of sports and sports-adjacent documentary projects.
The deal, financial details of which were not disclosed, was negotiated by Sebastian Burkhardt on behalf of the LA-based production arm of the Austrian energy drink giant and Andrea Scarso on behalf of IPR.VC.
It comes after Red Bull Studios has made films including Dakar: Race Against the Desert, about the off-road motor rally, directed by Jalil Lespert; BAFTA-winning documentary The Real Mo Farah; and Emmy nominee The Dawn Wall.
Upcoming titles include Girl Climber, directed by Jon Glassberg, profiling renowned climber Emily Harrington; Reggae Girlz, about the Jamaican women’s football team, directed by two-time Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton; and The Balloonists, directed by John Dower, telling the untold story of the first aeronauts to circumvent the globe in a hot-air balloon.
Helsinki-headquartered fund manager IPR.VC has raised over US$200m from institutional investors, pension funds, family offices and non-profit sector investors. This has been distributed across three content funds launched in 2015, 2019 and 2023.
It has financed over 50 film and television productions across the past decade through slate-wide alliances with US and European production houses including XYZ Films (BlackBerry, Skywalkers: A Love Story), mk2 Films (Gentle Monster) and A24 (Civil War, Materialists, Eddington).
Earlier this year the European Investment Fund committed €25m (US$28.6m) to the company’s latest alternative investment fund, making IPR.VC the largest independent film and TV investment fund manager operating in Europe. The company is currently building a European TV slate, the first project from which – crime drama Hildur, based on the novels by Satu Rämö – is in production in Iceland.
Philipp Manderla, global head of Red Bull Studios, said the alliance would help it to accelerate tell “bold, visually striking stories rooted in the world of sport and beyond.” He added: “Together, we’re crafting a slate that reflects our shared passion for high-quality, globally relevant storytelling with cultural impact.”
Andrea Scarso, partner at IPR.VC, said: “This collaboration reflects our ongoing strategy to support premium, globally relevant stories told through scripted and non-scripted genres, across film, television and the wider content economy, whilst offering those investors seeking relevance and the opportunity to shape culture, a vehicle to do just that.”
