Tennis star Elina Svitolina joins French startup Tiva's pre-seed round

The signal: Tiva's round sits at the intersection of two emerging patterns: elite athletes increasingly acting as angel investors rather than passive endorsers, and a growing wave of startups targeting hyper-specific niches within the broader sports performance market. With Apex — classified as a corporate investor that leverages a network of over 100 athlete investors — leading the round, the bet is less on cosmetics and more on whether athlete-driven distribution can shortcut the traditional brand-building playbook in an entirely new product category.