DFS911.com examines Daily Fantasy Sports companies for current and would be private equity and venture capitalist firms. Who is getting what and how is that money being used. Below we offer our valuable insight. Companies are listed in alphabetical order and tagged for easy research.
Most recent updates: DraftDay.com
AlphaDraft – July 14, 2015 – One of two companies paving the way in the world of Fantasy eSports, AlphaDraft has managed to accumulate an impressive group of investors over a relatively short period of time. Review Coming
AlphaStreak – July 14, 2015 – A turnkey Daily Fantasy Sports solution based out of Montreal. Very new and not yet recommended by DFS911.com. Updates and Reviews of AlphaStreak here
AthleteShares – August 4, 2015 – AthleteShares is changing the way that the ever-expanding daily fantasy sports games are played. We provide a different experience from market leaders FanDuel and DraftKings while also featuring the same excitement that comes from the more traditional DFS games. It does not have sigificant backing at this time.
BetConstruct – July 14, 2015 – Limited information, turnkey solutions for Daily Fantasy Sports and online gambling sector. Member of FSTA.
Bet Stars – Review Coming
Boom Shakalaka – July 22, 2015 – This is an in-game fantasy sports platform, pushing real-time questions to users (e.g. Will Adam Vinatieri make this 50-yard field goal? Will A-Rod hit a homerun in this at-bat?) and allowing them compete with others. The concept, if employed properly, could prove lucrative (emphasis on the “employed properly”) as live in-play betting now accounts for over 50% of many online sports wagering sites overall volume now. Grand Central Hub, the startup hub and business accelerator based out of Grand Central Station in New York City, has just welcomed Boom Shakalaka. Grand Central Hub provides office space in its massive 1.1 million square foot building it occupies rent-free for a year with a commitment to pay a set amount of rent beyond that point. Co-founders Stephen Murphy (LinkedIn profile) and Assaf Einat (LinkedIn profile) have 10 years of experience in casino gaming and technology. They are both graduates of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. This company is in the early development stages and not yet online. Read More About Boom Shakalaka Here
Bwin.Party Entertainment – July 22, 2015 – Looks like Bwin.Party is about to enter the DFS space as they are a member of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. Solid well-funded publicly traded company that was just acquired by 888 Holdings.
CBS Sportsline – August 8, 2015 – CBS entered the Daily Fantasy Sports arena this week with rake-free contests (unheard of). We don’t need to say how much backing is behind CBS. How successful they are in this space with perhaps a more bureaucratic structure remains to be seen in the long run. CBS Sports has been a pillar in season long fantasy sports for well over a decade.
Draft (PlayDraft.com) – July 13, 2015 – Upfront Ventures led a $3.5 million investment in Draft, the mobile fantasy sports app that’s aiming for a more casual player than tech-fantasy giants FanDuel and DraftKings. The deal, announced in March, follows a $2.1 million in initial funding from last year. Get the Latest Updates and Reviews of Draft / PlayDraft.com here.
DraftDay – October 4, 2015 – A new management group, led by Viggle and Sportech, has been announced for DraftDay.com, featuring a leadership team “highly experienced in B2B network operations and regulated gaming. We feel intertwining the well-established operational business of DraftDay with the expertise of Sportech and Viggle is a great combination”.
DraftKings – August 4, 2015 – Industry powerhouse attracting every type of investment deal imaginable and so much of that money is being put into marketing, sponsorship deals and contests that pay into the millions. $300 million in additional funding secured during July 2015 Read More Here
DraftOps – July 15, 2015 – This company appears to mean business after recently entering into a deal with Brooklyn’s Barclay Center. Now they are seeking investors. Get the latest reviews and updates for DraftOps here.
Draftster – July 14, 2015 – Whatever money was initially invested in Draftster appears to have dried up as this Daily Fantasy Sports site engages in very little marketing outside of some small affiliate deals and they have an adult film star representing them. Get the Latest Reviews and Updates of Draftster Here
Dribble – August 9, 2015 – The latest app developed by the duo of Daniel Qu and Nicholas P. Wright. Previous apps created by the pair do not seem to have gained much traction. Launchsite.com abruptly stopped updating its Twitter feed last year while PilotReader.com leads to a blank page. Read our review of Dribble here.
ESBN – July 14, 2015 – A company obviously looking to capitalize off of the ESPN name (the “P” is replaced with a “B”) Founded by Tampa college students, this site is yet to go online. As of mid-July, they were seeking a website developer (internship).
FanDuel – August 4, 2015 – Industry powerhouse attracting every type of investment deal imaginable and so much of that money is being put into marketing, sponsorship deals and contests that pay into the millions. Currently the leader in Daily Fantasy Sports. It’s competition is DraftKings and now Yahoo. In mid-July, FanDuel raised another $275m from investors, including private equity giant KKR, Google Capital and Time Warner Investments. Read More Here
FantasyAces – July 16, 2015 – Family owned mid-tier site. Review Coming
Fantasy Fued – Review Coming
FantasyUp – August 8, 2015 – Backing not known and offering an unsustainable “rake free” product that can only be adapted for a limited time by well-funded ventures. Needless-to-say, there are reports of slow pays coming in over the past month. Investors and players alike should be leary at this time until further information can be gathered.
FanZCall – July 14, 2015 – Immersive, real-time fantasy sports app. New startup, unproven.
FanWars – Review Coming
Fast Fantasy – July 25, 2015 – An old friend of the Gambling911.com/DFS911.com family, Joe Brennan, Jr., is CEO of this soon-to-launch company. Stay tuned. He will be speaking at the first ever Daily Fantasy Sports Expo in Miami Beach.
Ifrah Law – July 16, 2015 – Not a Daily Fantasy Sports site but rather a premier law firm that has long represented the online gambling space and is now taking the lead in Daily Fantasy Sports. Mr. Jeff Ifrah esq will be speaking at the first ever Daily Fantasy Sports Expo in Miami Beach. More Coming
LegendaryDraft.com – July 14, 2015 – Founded by Matthew J. Shriver. Site not yet online. No seed money acquired. No details provided.
MondoGoal – Review Coming
MVP Draft – July 14, 2015 – This company is now represented by renowned gaming attorney Jeff Ifrah as of April 20, for whom Gambling911.com founder Chris Costigan will be moderating his panel at the upcoming Daily Fantasy Sports Expo in Miami Beach. The company is attracting plenty of investment suitors. Review Coming
Play360Live.com – Review Coming
PokerStars – August 13, 2015 – Amaya Gaming, PokerStars parent company, has purchased Daily Fantasy Sports site Victiv.com and will rebrand as StarsDraft.
Real Fantasy Football – July 14, 2015 – Founded by three college students from England. No venture capitalist interest of yet. They claim to be the only draft-based EPL Fantasy Football site powered by OPTA. Solid social media presence. Review Coming
Red Draft Hero – July 22, 2015 – They claim to be the lowest cost Daily Fantasy Sports platform. That’s because the site offers 5% rakeback. We’ve seen this type of model in online poker and it’s proven to be especially risky. Red Draft Hero would have to become a dominant player in this niche market very quickly in order to succeed. This Minneapolis-based company was founded in June with little known in regard to funding. Their initial social media efforts are solid with 2887 “real” followers on Twitter. Perhaps it was a temporary glitch but, in attempting to visit the Red Draft Hero lobby, we received the following script error message: “Request processing failed; nested exception is javax.persistence.PersistenceException: org.hibernate.exception.SQLGrammarException: Unknown column ‘contest0_.timing’ in ‘field list'”. This site has zero search visibility.
Reverse Daily Fantasy Football – July 14, 2015 – Doesn’t appear as if this site is active. Typing in the URL we are led to a “Connection Untrusted” page that we won’t dare click on. GULP. Prospective investors act with caution.
ScoreStreak – July 14, 2015 – Another one bites the dust…..that is until they get more investment money. Okay fine.
SideLeague – Review Coming
SidePrize – Review Coming
SmashMouth Fantasy Sports – Review Coming
SportsTradex – Review Coming
Star Fantasy Leagues – August 6, 2015 – One of the firsts. Star Fantasy Leagues has until now been focusing on development of its software and compliance. We met with Star Fantasy Leagues at the first ever Daily Fantasy Sports Expo in Miami Beach August 6-7, 2015. This will be the leading white lable in the sector. They received an initial $2 million investment and have BETDAQ billionaire Dermot Desmond backing them. Star Fantasy Leagues is flush with cash and always looking for new investment opportunities. Review Coming
StarsDraft – August 13, 2015 – PokerStars new Daily Fantasy Sports site through the rebranding of Victiv.com, the Austin-based DFS site its parent company Amaya purchased on August 13, 2015.
StatRace – August 4, 2015 – StatRace allows users to play a Fantasy Football game for Bitcoin, taking advantage of the growing popularity of both Bitcoin and Daily Fantasy Sports. This site does not appear to have any significant outside backing.
StatCash – Review Coming
Swagger Stadium – Review Coming
Swoopt – Review Coming
TradeSports – Review Coming
Victiv – August 13, 2015 – Company was acquired by Amaya Gaming on this date, parent company of PokerStars, making it a major player in the world of DFS. To be rebranded as StarsDraft.com Review Coming
Yahoo Daily Fantasy Sports – July 16, 2015 – Not that they need investors. Yahoo just entered the Daily Fantasy Sports space in July 2015 and, by default, becomes a behemoth in the industry along with DraftKings and FanDuel.