BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DraftKings, Inc., a leading provider of daily fantasy sports online and in mobile with offerings in fantasy baseball, fantasy football, fantasy basketball, and fantasy hockey, has closed a $24M Series B round of funding led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation by GGV Capital, Atlas Venture, and BDS Ventures. DraftKings plans to use the money to fund marketing and acquisition, develop strategic partnerships, and to hire key talent. Featuring daily fantasy sports contests and same-day settlement, DraftKings makes playing fantasy sports simpler and faster for both seasoned and casual players.
Founded in 2012, DraftKings has quickly become a dominant player in the daily fantasy sports industry. Since the end of August 2013 alone, DraftKings has tripled its customer base, with year-over-year revenue growth of 10x. DraftKings' online and mobile products are a valuable companion to the live sports viewing experience, spawning impressive customer engagement statistics.
DraftKings players currently spend over five hours per week on the mobile app and website, and compete in an average of 2.6 different sports. In addition, seventy-five percent (75%) of customers acquired in 2012 were still active in 2013, thanks to the cash prize contests and continued marketing innovation driven by the DraftKings team. DraftKings awarded over $50M in prizes in 2013, and their upcoming 2013 Fantasy Football Millionaire contest will award $1M to the top finisher, out of a total prize pool of $3.1M.
"DraftKings has had an amazing year but we are even more excited about what the future holds," said Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO. "Going forward, we will continue to prioritize customer experience, leveraging both our online and mobile platforms. Mobile, in particular, will be an area of focus for us in 2014. Redpoint and GGV both have deep experience in mobile gaming, which we found really attractive in a capital partner."
“One of the most exciting aspects of venture investing is when we see a company that plays a role in creating a consumer phenomenon. DraftKings is just that sort of company,” said Tom Dyal, Partner at Redpoint Ventures. “DraftKings’ innovative approach to coupling a clear monetization model with a huge, engaged fantasy sports audience captured our attention. The DraftKings’ team’s execution and focus made investing in them even more attractive to us. We’re thrilled to be investors as the company enters the next stage of growth.”
For more information about DraftKings, Inc., please visit www.draftkings.com.
About DraftKings:
Launched in April 2012, Boston-based DraftKings is the online gaming destination where players engage in daily fantasy sports competitions across fantasy baseball, fantasy football, fantasy basketball, and fantasy hockey. DraftKings offers free and pay contests every day that pay cash prizes. All games are structured under salary cap format, and new contests are offered every day with instantaneous payouts. For more information, visit us at www.draftkings.com; like us at www.facebook.com/draftkings and follow us at www.twitter.com/draftkings.
About Redpoint Ventures:
Since 1999, the Redpoint team has partnered with visionary founders who create new markets or redefine existing ones. From the earliest stages, Redpoint has supported HomeAway, Fortinet, Heroku, Netflix, TiVo, Juniper, RightMedia, Zimbra, LifeSize, among many others, helping them transform their industries. With its $3.4B fund, Redpoint has funded over 375 and 121 IPOs & M&As and actively invests in disruptive consumer and enterprise tech companies from seed to growth stages.
