Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's venture capital firm Seven Seven Six has acquired ONIT, the Boise-based college sports trading card company, in a deal that marks one of the most significant outside investments in the collegiate sports collectibles space to date. The acquisition, confirmed June 18, brings one of Silicon Valley's most prominent tech investors into the physical collectibles market — specifically the fast-growing college NIL card vertical.

The Deal

Seven Seven Six, Ohanian's venture capital firm, has been aggressively building a portfolio in women's and emerging sports, with holdings that include Chelsea FC Women's (WSL), founding control ownership of Angel City FC (NWSL), Los Angeles Volleyball (LOVB), LA Golf Club (TGL and WTGL), and ATHLOS Track and Field. ONIT represents the firm's first foray into the trading card space — a move Ohanian framed as a natural extension of the firm's thesis around underserved sports communities.

"ONIT is a natural fit with Seven Seven Six," Ohanian said in a statement. "It's an opportunity to create a vehicle for underserved sports to reach their fans through sports cards, a product category I've been passionate about since I was a kid."

Who Is ONIT?

ONIT has quietly built itself into the dominant player in college sports trading cards since the NCAA's NIL policy change opened the door for athlete licensing. In the most recently completed academic year (2024-25), ONIT produced team-specific trading card sets for 212 teams across 67 Division I schools, working with more than 8,000 student-athletes — including more women's sports student-athletes than all other trading card companies combined, according to the company.

The company's model is straightforward: officially licensed, team-specific products that offer on-card autographs and industry-leading royalty structures. ONIT has become particularly known for its Ashton Jeanty rookie cards — the Boise State running back's 2024 Heisman-adjacent season created real demand that demonstrated the potential of the college card market beyond novelty status.

ONIT has seen its revenue grow 244% over the past two calendar years, including year-over-year growth of 56.9% in 2025 with a 58.6% improvement in net income. This month, the company is introducing its first fully-mixed retail product — 2026 ONIT Gravity Baseball — at Walmart and Best Buy, featuring 100 of this season's top college baseball players from 10 different universities and debuting ONIT's ION optichrome print technology.

What This Means for the Hobby

The acquisition signals that college sports cards are being taken seriously as a growth vertical — not by a niche hobby company, but by a venture capital firm with a track record of identifying emerging markets early. Ohanian's involvement adds a layer of mainstream credibility to a segment that, until recently, was viewed primarily as a curiosity alongside the dominant pro-sport trading card market.

Former NASCAR and The Athletic executive Evan Parker, who previously built the content and community platform Mantel alongside Ohanian and Brent Montgomery, has joined ONIT as CEO. His background in sports media and content suggests ONIT's next phase may focus as much on storytelling and community as on card production.

The college card space remains a small fraction of the overall sports collectibles market, estimated at over $10 billion annually. But with the NIL era still in its early stages and the pipeline of future professional stars running through college programs, ONIT's position as the incumbent in this space — now backed by venture capital — makes it a company worth watching.

The Bigger Picture

ONIT's growth trajectory is occurring against the backdrop of a maturing sports card market. While the pandemic-era boom has cooled, the infrastructure and collector base built during that period remain. The entry of a prominent tech investor into the college card niche suggests that the segment's growth potential — driven by NIL, expanding women's sports visibility, and a new generation of collectors — is real enough to attract outside capital.

For collectors, the most immediate question is whether ONIT's expanded distribution (Walmart and Best Buy placements) and increased production capacity will affect the scarcity dynamics of its products. ONIT's team-specific sets have historically been relatively limited in print run — retail distribution would represent a significant change in availability.

The ONIT acquisition is the moment college sports cards arrived as a legitimate investment category. Whether that translates into lasting collector value depends on execution — but having Alexis Ohanian's firm behind the bet is a strong vote of confidence in the space.