By Caleb Culpepper (empowered by AI)
Five years after the NCAA opened the door to athlete compensation, Opendorse finds itself at the center of a vastly larger, more complex marketplace. What began in 2021 as a scramble to build marketplaces and facilitate brand deals has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar ecosystem that now includes institutional revenue sharing, compliance oversight, and enterprise technology needs across college athletics.
The company continues to build both new partnerships with universities around the U.S., but also to support Nebraska, Creighton, and most of the local universities. Opendorse is considered the leading organization for universities seeking to build new NIL processes and support – implementing tools and expertise that was built and stress tested for a decade prior to the emergence of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL).
The company’s growth has tracked that expansion. Since NIL launched under the NCAA, Opendorse has scaled from a startup-sized team into an organization of more than 50 employees, building software used by athletic departments, collectives, and brands nationwide. The rapid increase in deal volume, reporting requirements, and data tracking created demand for infrastructure, and Opendorse leaned into becoming a technology backbone rather than just a marketplace.
That strategic shift coincided with a leadership transition in 2024. Co-founders Blake Lawrence and Adi Kunalic moved out of the CEO role as veteran operator Stephen Denton stepped in to lead the next phase. At the time, Lawrence described the move as a deliberate decision to position the company for long-term scale, signaling that the founding chapter had given way to operational maturity. Kunalic similarly emphasized that bringing in outside executive leadership would allow the company to expand its enterprise relationships while the founders focused on product vision and industry advocacy.
The timing was significant. As NIL dollars ballooned (and as the House settlement ushered in a revenue-sharing era), schools increasingly needed compliance workflows, disclosure tools, budgeting systems, and audit-ready reporting. Opendorse’s pitch evolved accordingly, emphasizing institutional partnerships and data analytics over one-off brand activations.
Industry observers note that while some smaller NIL service providers have struggled amid regulatory shifts, Opendorse has maintained visibility through data reporting and university renewals. The company’s steady headcount and continued partnerships suggest underlying stability in a market that has otherwise seen volatility.
There is also growing chatter within the local venture and sports business circles that a significant capital raise could be on the horizon. Multiple sources indicate that a substantial funding round may be in the works, potentially aimed at accelerating enterprise product development and expanding sales capacity as revenue sharing formalizes across Division I programs.
If that raise materializes, it would mark another inflection point. NIL’s first five years were about proving the concept. The next phase appears to be about institutionalization, and Opendorse is positioning itself to grow alongside the system it helped build.