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| ALEX BHATHAL | LISA BHATHAL MERAGE |
| CO-FOUNDER | CO-FOUNDER / MANAGING PARTNER |
| RAJ CAPITAL | RAJ CAPITAL |
WHY: Siblings founded Newport Beach-based RAJ Sports, a subsidiary of RAJ Capital. Parents Raj and Marta are entrepreneurs who built swimwear empire. Awarded a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) expansion franchise in Portland, Oregon. RAJ Sports also has ownership stakes in the Sacramento Kings (NBA) and Portland Thorns FC (National Women’s Soccer League, or NWSL). Siblings also own Revitate, a scalable investment platform open to outside investors where they focus on the three investment verticals they know best: real estate, sports and consumer. Alex is operating partner at RX3, investment portfolio of famed QB Aaron Rodgers and Nate Raabe, who is also on the OC50 Rising Entrepreneurs.
IN THE NEWS: Revealed plans for a joint practice facility for the Portland Trailblazers and Rose City’s new WNBA franchise. The facility will be built in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland, and open ahead of the WNBA’s 2026 season. A Portland Business Journal report on May 19 said Hoffman Construction Co. was selected as the general contractor to build the $150M practice facility.
NOTABLE: In January, Alex and Lisa were awarded the Business Journal’s Businesspersons of the Year Award in the sports category. Alex was previously honored with the Business Journal’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award in 2023. Lisa has won a Women in Business award as well. Alex and Lisa, with the support of their dad, won the competitive bidding process in 2023 to buy the Portland Thorns. The OregonLive website, citing unidentified sources, said the Bhathals paid $63M for the team, a record for the league. As Alex and Lisa were closing their deal for the Thorns in 2023, they heard about the WNBA’s interest for an expansion franchise in Portland. Both franchises are being spearheaded by Lisa. The Portland team, which doesn’t yet have a name, will take the court in 2026.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “Portland is the epicenter of women’s sports. Portland has backed female teams and athletes for years.” — Lisa Bhathal Merage
“When we saw there might be an opportunity to have a platform to have women’s soccer and women’s basketball under the same ownership umbrella, it just made all the sense in the world.” — Alex Bhathal