EXCLUSIVE: Austria’s Red Bull Studios and Helsinki-based fund IPR.VC have announced a multi-year slate financing commitment focused on premium sports and sports-adjacent documentary projects.
The agreement follows in the wake of a string of high-profile, sports-themed productions from Red Bull Studios including Jalil Lespert’s Dakar: Race Against The Desert, produced with Universal Pictures; BAFTA award-winning documentary The Real Mo Farah, and Emmy nominee The Dawn Wall.
The partners said their collaboration would leverage Red Bull Studios’ track record in the sports documentary space and IPR.VC’s investment expertise, saying it also underscored the former’s commitment to producing compelling sports-themed content that goes beyond the highlight reel to tell human stories, with cultural relevance and cinematic execution.
“We are excited to partner with IPR.VC which will enable us to accelerate our ambition to tell bold, visually striking, stories rooted in the world of sport and beyond. Together, we’re crafting a slate that reflects our shared passion for high-quality, globally relevant storytelling with cultural impact,” said Philipp Manderla, Global Head of Red Bull Studios.
Bridging the gap between traditional finance and content investment, IPR.VC, which also has an office in London, has raised more than $200 million from institutional investors, pension funds, family offices, and non-profit sector investors to date.
It has financed more than 50 premium film and television productions across the last decade through slate-wide alliances with top U.S. and European production houses which include XYZ Films (Blackberry, Skywalkers: A Love Story)); mk2 films (Gentle Monster) and A24 (Civil War, Materialists, and Eddington)
“At IPR.VC we collaborate with companies who bring ambitious, culturally resonant ideas to the global stage, and Red Bull Studios is a benchmark in that space,” said Andrea Scarso, Partner at IPR.VC.
“They’ve been truly inspiring in how they’ve built the Red Bull Studios brand, creating something genuinely unique in the world of sports and sports-adjacent storytelling. 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.”
Upcoming Red Ball Studio titles include Girl Climber, directed by Jon Glassberg, profiling climber Emily Harrington as she defies expectations by taking on the challenge to free climb El Capitan in under 24 hour. The film world premiered at the Telluride-set Mountainfilm festival in May 2025 and will have a theatrical and digital release.
Further recent titles include Reggae Girlz about Jamaica’s Women’s Soccer team, directed by two-time Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton, and The Balloonists directed by John Dower, recounting the untold story of the first aeronauts to circumvent the globe in a hot air balloon.
Earlier this year the European Investment Fund committed €25 million to IPR.VC’s latest alternative investment fund, consolidating its position as the largest independent Film and TV investment fund manager operating in Europe.
The slate financing deal was negotiated by Sebastian Burkhardt on behalf of Red Bull Studios and Scarso on behalf of IPR.VC.
