Charlotte Hornets adds one of fastest growing US companies as jersey patch sponsor
When Shelly Cayette-Weston spoke about her vision a year ago, it included a priority to monetize and protect the space on the Charlotte Hornets’ jersey.
As of Wednesday, Cayette-Weston — the team’s president — can check that item off her to-do list.
The Hornets have reached a multi-year agreement to partner with Judi Health as the team’s jersey patch sponsor. Judi Health is a health technology company that’s less than 10 years old and is considered one of the fastest growing in the country.
“The name on the jersey patch is important,” Hornets co-owner Rick Schnall said during a video conference call from New York. “And we’ve seen around the league, and in all sports, that there have been sponsors that I think ultimately didn’t work out or didn’t emerge as the companies that people had hoped they would be. And we thought it was really important to find a company that we really believe in.
“And we think we found that in Judi Health. We found a company that just raised $400 million that’s emerging, that’s growing at an incredibly rapid rate. We’ve done our due diligence and we’ve spent a lot of time with AJ (Loiacono, Judi Health founder and chief executive officer) and team and this is going to be an incredibly successful company. … And so together, we feel really good because we think we’re both going to become leaders in our respective spaces over the upcoming years.”
The Hornets were in search of a sponsor for the better portion of the past year after MrBeast ended its partnership as the sponsor of the Hornets’ jersey patch. MrBeast’s Feastables brand was stitched to the uniforms in 2023-24, taking over the role following LendingTree serving as the initial sponsor until 2022-23.
Originally founded in 2017 as Capital Rx with a vision of transforming and streamlining the process of managing medical prescriptions, the company was re-branded as Judi Health on Tuesday. Its mission is to improve the administrative workflow and efficiency in operations on a health platform, and drive change in healthcare pricing and patient care.
Judi Health delivers the technological infrastructure for healthcare, focusing on software engineering and improving outdated platforms.
“What we’re bringing to the country is, one, modern infrastructure,” Loiacono said during the call. “Let’s make payments clear, let’s improve that patient experience. And thankfully, we’re already touching four million lives directly and people that license our technology, another 50 million more that we’re rolling out, which is amazing. I think the other part that we really want to focus on, that people can kind of get behind is we’re the company that’s committed to change.
“There’s not a single health care brand out there that’s really trying to transform anything. I think a lot of people are stuck basically making the best of what was. And we have a completely different principle, which is we are going to power the future of health care, build the infrastructure this country needs for the health care we deserve. I think we’re tired of having, what I would say, substandard health care in this country.
“And if you can’t hear it in my voice, I’m a bit of a fighter. And so is Rick and so are the Hornets. And we couldn’t be more excited to partner with the company with that same spirit.”
Judi Health currently has roughly 1,200 employees, is headquartered in New York City and also has an office in Denver. There are plans to expand into Charlotte, bringing approximately 200–250 jobs to the area within two years, with potential for further growth. Focus for the Charlotte office will be on software engineers and technology staff, and Judi Health plans to collaborate with the Hornets and city leaders to select an appropriate location, preferably in uptown.
Additionally, the agreement calls for other avenues for Judi Health’s brand to be visible, including virtual on-court signage during Hornets’ games televised regionally. It’s just the latest move co-owners Schnall and Gabe Plotkin have invested in the organization, which includes constructing a new performance center scheduled to open in 2027 and the completion of a two-year renovation of Spectrum Center.
The arena at the corner of Trade and Caldwell streets is set to re-open on Oct. 19, beginning with a pair of shows from Billie Eilish, and it’s only the start of what Schnall expects to be a parade of high-profile events after the 20-year-old building’s major internal facelift.
“We’re a world class venue,” Schnall said. “We should be a stop for every concert that is touring around the U.S. Charlotte is a city that deserves the best concerts. We expect to be one of the biggest concert venues in the U.S. State Farm Arena probably has a few more concerts than us today, State Farm in Atlanta and there’s no reason why that should be the case.
“And so we’re excited about that, the number of concerts we intend to put in the arena. So we’re going to go do that.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM.
