The US tech industry has branded the birth of another “Unicorn” as daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator DraftKings announces that it has raised $300 million (£195 million) in series D funding.
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DraftKings’ existing investors Atlas Venture, DST Global, GGV Capital, The Kraft Group, The Raine Group, and Wellington Management Company also participated in the new financing.
“We’ll work with DraftKings to develop ideas and create content to drive deeper engagement with sports fans across multiple platforms, including our national, local, and digital properties,” said Eric Shanks, president and chief operating officer of Fox Sports.
DraftKings has become the fastest-growing company in DFS since its launch in 2012, having just registered its 100 millionth contest entry this month.
DraftKings and FanDuel run daily fantasy sports games that award users for picking players that perform well.
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins detailed that the investment would be used to capitalise on the explosive growth of the US fantasy sports market.
Separately, FanDuel, a DraftKings competitor, announced a 5 million round of funding led by venture-capital firm KKR, with participation from Google and Time Warner and Turner Sports.
Sooner or later, sports will be nothing but interruptions of never-ending DraftKings commercials.
Fox Sports is paying about $150 million, giving it an 11% take in DraftKings, the New York Times reported.
Tech analysts have been divided by the high level investment in DraftKings, a company which recorded $30 million in revenues for 2014.
The companies seemingly agreed on more than just the venture funding.
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About DraftKings DraftKings, Inc.is a leading skill-based Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) gaming destination for fans in North America to compete in single-day online games for cash and prizes across the largest variety of professional and collegiate sports. However, the Boston-based daily fantasy company still concluded a deal with Disney-owned ESPN for (eventual) exclusive advertising. And as more money is invested, you can bet that there’s going to be more scrutiny towards daily fantasy, and the legal questions therein, in the near future.
