How Caddix keeps building its roster by offering equity, not checks

Caddix, the Baltimore-based cleat company founded in January 2020 by Jack Rasmussen and his father, Jeff Rasmussen, has added Baltimore Ravens rookie wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane to its roster of athlete investors, the company announced Wednesday. Former Ravens tight end Todd Heap was its first athlete investor, joined shortly after by Dennis Pitta.

Lane  joins an investor group Caddix has built largely around Ravens ties: former quarterback Joe Flacco, Heap and Pitta, and Kayla Sharples, a defender for the National Women’s Soccer League’s Kansas City Current. Sharples is Caddix’s sole female investor and sits on its advisory board, a role she took on after backing the company alongside Flacco earlier this year.

Her involvement has shaped how Caddix talks about its product: the company builds its women’s cleat on a different last than its men’s version, accounting for the hip-to-knee angle difference between male and female athletes rather than scaling down a men’s design. Caddix has said that distinction, along with its multi-sport roster spanning the NFL, NWSL and lacrosse, has helped it move from a direct-to-consumer brand into retail, landing shelf space at Dick’s Sporting Goods and Scheels this summer.

Caddix’s cleats use a patented stud system, branded SmartStuds, engineered to release a player’s foot from the turf when planting or cutting rather than locking it in place, a design aimed at the non-contact plants and pivots behind most ACL and ankle injuries.