Australian cloud company pays millions for spot on Warriors jersey
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Warriors owner Joe Lacob, IREN co-CEOs William and Daniel Roberts and Warriors star Jimmy Butler. Photo: Ina Fried/Axios
A pricey new deal to sponsor the Golden State Warriors' jersey patch could help IREN — a little-known Australia-based cloud provider — increase its reach.
Why it matters: The deal reflects a mutual courtship between an AI infrastructure provider and a sports franchise eager to tie itself to the Bay Area's booming AI economy.
Driving the news: IREN, which got its start as a bitcoin mining company, is reportedly paying more than $50 million per year for the Warriors jersey patch sponsorship.
- The deal also includes a spot on the warm-up jersey for the WNBA's Valkyries as well as on the uniforms of the Santa Cruz Warriors, the franchise for new and developing Warriors players.
What they're saying: Co-CEO Daniel Roberts told Axios that IREN's goal is to get on the radar of the Bay Area's many AI startups rather than become a household name.
- "Our compute is global, but a lot of the customer base is here," Roberts said.
- IREN sells GPU cloud capacity for AI training and inference.
The other side: The Warriors have also been leaning into the AI boom, recently adding legal AI startup Harvey to a roster of tech-related sponsors that includes Google Cloud and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
- "We're trying to be part of an ecosystem that is inclusive of every AI company in this marketplace,' Warriors chief commercial officer Mike Kitts told Axios.
My thought bubble: IREN has some catching up to do on name recognition.
- I noticed its logo on the Valkyries' warm-ups earlier this year, before the sponsorship was announced. I had to Google the name and was surprised to learn it was an AI infrastructure company.
The intrigue: The jersey patch sponsorship had been held by Japanese retailer Rakuten, which recently extended its Warriors partnership without the prime uniform spot.
Between the lines: IREN is trying to buy more than visibility. The company is also trying to cast itself as a responsible local partner at a time when data centers face growing scrutiny over their use of land, electricity and other resources.
- Roberts said IREN takes pains not to be seen as a company that "comes into these towns and extracts compute and power."
- "Ultimately it's their land, it's their power, it's their people," he said.
- And, Roberts said, IREN uses 100% renewable energy and owns the facilities it operates, unlike many rivals.
