AI-First Hedge Fund Badass Capital to Explore Betting, Crypto & Prediction Markets

Mark Thomas, the businessman behind ZenSports, announced a new hedge fund venture. The so-called Badass Capital will be what officials described as an “AI-first hedge fund” that deploys proprietary AI models and agents across three high-growth, inefficiency-rich markets.

Leveraging AI to Explore Betting, Crypto & Event Contract Spaces

According to the official announcement, Badass Capital will leverage AI to explore three core markets, namely sports betting, TradFi & crypto trading, and prediction markets. In addition to tapping into these high-growth markets, Badass Capital will seek to improve efficiencies, enabling further growth and opportunities.

Badass Capital will operate as BA Capital Fund and is independently capitalized at launch. Most of the fund’s money comes from Thomas’ own capital, the announcement reads. Badass Capital has also accepted a limited amount of outside investment.

Thomas, for context, is a serial entrepreneur who is responsible for two successful technology exits. He also held Nevada and Tennessee gaming licenses and participated in the regulated gaming sector. In addition to that, he boasts years of personal trading and sports betting analytics.

Thomas explained that Badass Capital will treat every market as a pricing problem.

We treat every market as a pricing problem: build the model, quantify the edge, execute with discipline. The convergence of platform proliferation and AI is creating an opportunity that most funds simply aren’t built to take.

Mark Thomas, founder, Badass Capital

Better Information Can Make All the Difference

Badass Capital’s philosophy is based on three areas where participants trade on beliefs and where access to better information can provide a significant edge.

In terms of the sports betting sector, Badass Capital believes that sports equals math and therefore “the edge belongs to whoever has the better numbers.” The fund also said that AI models and agents can handle TradFi & Crypto Trading research to follow medium-term swing trading, momentum-driven scalp trading, and asset rotations. Finally, Badass Capital described advanced event hedging using prediction market contracts as a “core component” of its overall strategy.

The firm targets markets where institutional capital has historically been absent or under-deployed. The explosion of new platforms, regulatory tailwinds, and AI capabilities are creating a unique structural opportunity window that we’re excited to take advantage of.

Mark Thomas, founder, Badass Capital

Thomas cited the recent liquidity boom within the sports betting, crypto, and prediction markets spaces as one of the key reasons for launching Badass Capital now. The opening of new exchanges, prediction platforms and sportsbooks, on the other hand, represents pricing inefficiencies that his team is poised to exploit. Finally, new AI models can process data from all relevant platforms at a speed that humans cannot match, making this the perfect moment for an AI-first hedge fund.