Earnings+More - Startup funding booms in January
Startup funding booms in JanuaryFunding off to a fast start in ’24, venture capital looks poised, Inside the raise – ParlayBay +More
I counted out his money and it made a pretty penny. Signs of life in startup fundingGreen shoots: Startups and scale-ups have announced fund raises totaling $34.5m in the opening weeks of 2024 – more than a third of last year’s total amount raised from investors as tracked by Earnings+More.
Four to the floor: Six deals were announced last week. First, Splash Sports said it had secured $14.1m via a Series A2 funding round, which will in part go towards the launch of a new partner solutions company. The new funding round was led by Boston Seed, Velvet Sea Ventures, K5, Elysian Park, Acies Investments, Accomplice, Counterview and others.
Skill or cure: These six deals come on top of two funding rounds from earlier in the month. Skill Money Games rounded up $5m in seed financing from investors including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (ECBI), while European OSB provider ParlayBay raised €3.5m ($3.8m) from unnamed industry figures. A word of caution: Sources pointed out that announcements of raises can substantially lag the actual negotiations over new funding rounds and that often the PR can mislead because a company just wants some publicity.
Notably, of the eight companies to have raised so far this year, six are B2B or, as is the case with Splash Sports, the cash raised will go directly into launching a services offering. Cherniak says this was “interesting but not surprising.”
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Also, our push format API offering real-time betting odds from 150+ sportsbooks: player props, alternate markets, injury data, historical odds, schedules, ranking, scores & more, is available upon request. Book a meeting here or get in touch at ryan@opticodds.com. Sourcing startup fundingYou’ve never had it so good: Yolo Group fired the starting pistol for an optimistic new year when it announced the launch of its new €100m Yolo Fund II a few days before Christmas. Meanwhile, Sharp Alpha Advisors managing partner Lloyd Danzig is confident his firm will deploy more capital in 2024 than it has ever done before. Davis Catlin of Discerning Capital closed one deal last year, but hopes to do three or four this year.
Where we were: The new optimism comes against a backdrop of general gloom in 2023. Venture dollars invested were down nearly 60% in 2023 compared to 2021 and the number of active VCs declined 42% over that same period, according to financial data and software company PitchBook.
On the quietJust between you and me: Danzig believes media coverage has portrayed the situation as more dire than it is. Many companies are simply not announcing their funding rounds, but he admits that with the cost of capital up and access to capital down, investment decisions are being made more deliberately and, therefore, more slowly.
Men at work: Discerning Capital’s investment in Picklebet was one of a number coming out of Australia. Benjie Cherniak points to social sports-betting company Dabble and pricing specialist ZeroFlucs as Australian companies he has invested in.
Spoilt for choice? “There are so many VC firms that are dedicated to our space,” says Cherniak. Most of them have been mentioned in this article but you could also point to larger sportstech-focused firms such as Courtside Ventures, which dabble in the gambling space.
Catlin’s partner David Williams concludes: “Strategic M&A will continue but large private equity sponsors are looking for businesses that don’t really exist in the US gambling sector – companies with $25m+ revenues and $20m+ EBITDA.” BettingJobs is the global leading recruitment solution provider for the iGaming, Sports Betting, and Lottery sectors. Backed by a 20-year track record of successfully supporting the iGaming industry, it's no surprise BettingJobs is experiencing rapid growth and outstanding results. Does your company plan to expand its teams to cope with strong demand and growth? Contact BettingJobs today where their dedicated team members will help you find exactly what you are looking for. Inside the raise – ParlayBayA deeper pool: As mentioned above, ParlayBay raised €3.5m from unnamed industry figures at the start of the year and E+M spoke to Fredrik Elmqvist, executive chair, about how new money also brings with it strategic industry partners. Network effect: Alongside its previous investors, who have taken up the lion’s share of the new money, Elmqvist says ParlayBay went through its network of contacts and secured “strategic industry partners” as investors who have also become new business partners.
Pedal to the metal: The new cash will go to accelerating the business with ParlayBay expanding across the board with more formats, more sports, more tools and more digital distribution opportunities.
Generating heat: But Elmqvist says ParlayBay also has wider global ambitions. “We are now also pivoting towards the wider European market as well as LatAm,” he adds. “For the latter we have received a lot of interest without much effort, but that will be something we’ll be focusing on this year.
The month in focuses
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Venture capital firm Yolo Investments manages in excess of €500m in capital across 100 exciting fintech, gaming and blockchain companies. The Yolo Investments' Gaming fund, regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, has taken positions in fast-growth suppliers and operators, including Dabble and Enteractive. Yolo Investments (yolo.io) wants to hear from readers of this newsletter. Get in touch with your pitch, or for a chat about innovative products which can plug into our investment ecosystem. An +More Media publication. For sponsorship inquiries email scott@andmore.media. |
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