Theme attractiveness score
PB INVEST internal score out of 100.
Scores are a screening heuristic and do not represent expected returns, portfolio weights or investment recommendations.
2026 opportunity map
Europe and the United States offer different edges.
Europe brings fragmentation, institutional sport structures and cross-country localisation complexity. The United States brings deeper commercial budgets, category scale and major broadband infrastructure programmes. The strongest software companies can bridge both.
94.9%French premises fibre-ready — ARCEP, March 2026
$42.45bnUS BEAD federal broadband programme — NTIA
300+Companies backed by the EIC Fund across 25 countries
Sports software
Where we see asymmetric upside.
Institutional innovation programmes show that clubs, federations and sports organisations are increasingly open to external technology. The harder question is which vendors can turn access into recurring, scalable economics.
Europe
Fragmented demand creates platform and consolidation opportunities.
Different leagues, languages, procurement models and governing structures make Europe difficult. That friction can become a moat for vendors that master implementation, localisation and distribution without becoming a services company.
United States
Commercial depth rewards products with measurable ROI.
Teams, leagues, collegiate programmes, academies, venues and media ecosystems can support larger software budgets, but switching costs and proof of value matter.
Cross-Atlantic
Distribution can be more valuable than feature breadth.
We look for routes to market through league relationships, data partnerships, resellers, systems integrators and ecosystem integrations that make international expansion repeatable.
Opportunity scoring
Internal screening, not market-size theatre.
The chart below is a PB INVEST qualitative screen of themes based on workflow depth, defensibility, recurring revenue potential and cross-border portability. It is not third-party market data.
Internal framework
Regional telecom
Infrastructure value increasingly depends on operating quality.
ARCEP’s fibre quality work focuses on technician interventions, correcting defects and rehabilitating incident-heavy networks. That creates a software and operations layer around physical assets.
Our interest is in the tooling, data and execution capability that this operating phase requires — not in construction volume for its own sake.
94.9% fibre-ready, 27.7m subscribers.
Coverage maturity shifts attention toward utilisation, service quality, field operations and network data.
$42.45bn BEAD programme.
We are more interested in the durable software and operational tools around infrastructure deployment than in chasing construction volume for its own sake.
Deal situations
We are open on structure, strict on alignment.
PB INVEST can study minority, strategic, co-investment and structured situations. We do not publish a fictional ticket range simply to look institutional. Sizing depends on the asset, syndicate, governance and path to value creation.
Primary capital
Capital for product, distribution, cross-border expansion or selective M&A where the use of funds is specific.
Partial liquidity
Succession, recapitalisation or strategic repositioning with continuing management alignment.
Co-investment
Domain-informed participation alongside VCs, growth funds, family offices or strategic investors.