Nicolas Julia is a French entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and chief executive of Sorare, the NFT-based fantasy sports platform headquartered in Paris. Alongside his role leading Sorare, Julia is active as an angel investor, backing early-stage projects primarily in the Web3, gaming, and consumer crypto space. His geographic base is France, though his investment activity spans European and global startups.
Julia co-founded Sorare in 2018 together with Adrien Montfort. The company grew rapidly by licensing digital player cards from major football clubs including Real Madrid, Juventus, and Bayern Munich, then expanded into Major League Baseball. In September 2021, Sorare closed a $680 million Series B led by SoftBank at a $4.3 billion valuation, one of the largest funding rounds for a European startup that year. This outcome established Julia as a prominent figure in European Web3 entrepreneurship and opened doors to angel deal flow in the sector.
Notable investments
Public information about Julia's specific angel portfolio is limited. No comprehensive list of his eight known portfolio companies has been disclosed through press releases, Crunchbase, or regulatory filings as of early 2026. His investment thesis, inferred from public statements and his Sorare background, centers on consumer-facing Web3 products, NFT infrastructure, and sports-adjacent digital assets. Specific deal sizes have not been made public.
Team
Nicolas Julia operates as a solo angel rather than through a named fund or partnership. He does not have disclosed managing partners or a dedicated investment team. His primary professional identity remains as CEO of Sorare, where his co-founder Adrien Montfort serves as chief technology officer. Angel activity appears to be a secondary role alongside running the company.
Recent activity
Between 2024 and early 2026, Julia has participated in public discussions around NFT market maturation, sports licensing models, and the intersection of AI with digital collectibles. Sorare itself expanded its product line to include fantasy rugby and continued negotiations with additional sports leagues. Whether these strategic directions have influenced new angel bets has not been confirmed publicly. His Crunchbase profile lists him as an investor but does not itemize all portfolio companies.
Julia represents a category of founder-turned-angel common in the European Web3 ecosystem: operators with direct experience scaling consumer crypto products who back peers at the pre-seed or seed stage. His track record with Sorare gives him credibility in sports, gaming, and NFT sectors. Investors and founders seeking a strategic angel with deep knowledge of digital collectibles and sports rights licensing would find his profile relevant. Full transparency on his portfolio remains absent from public sources.