Sports Betting and Gambling Startups That Raised the Most VC Money

Sports betting and online gambling have boomed in recent years as regulatory shifts have made wagering big business in the US. 

Some of today’s biggest players — like DraftKings and FanDuel — recognized the online-betting opportunity early on and have reaped the benefits of the first-mover advantage. Startups like Mojo and Sporttrade, which have raised funding in the last few years, are also attempting to disrupt norm established by the big names.

But history shows that not every startup will survive and thrive. Some early gaming innovators like Playdom and Sorteo Games, which received tens of millions in funding in the mid-2010s, have already closed their doors.

Despite those cases, the online-betting market is still projected to grow for years to come, and there will continue to be more startups looking to use that potential growth as a reason to attract venture capitalists and angel investors.

PitchBook tracked the VC deals among US startups in sports betting and online gambling dating back to 2006. Here are the companies that have received the most funding to date:

1. DraftKings – $1.17 billion. Before DraftKings went public in 2020, it was the most-funded startup in the space — and it’s held onto that crown. DraftKings has raised nearly three times more VC funding than any other US sports-betting or online-gambling startup, according to PitchBook. Founded in 2012 by former VistaPrint executives Jason Robins, Paul Liberman, and Matthew Kalish, DraftKings began with daily fantasy sports and evolved over the last decade into one of the largest online-betting platforms in the US.
2. FanDuel – $438.5 million. FanDuel is DraftKings’ biggest competitor in daily fantasy and online sports betting. Like DraftKings, FanDuel focused on daily fantasy when it was founded in 2009. Irish-betting giant Paddy Power Betfair, now known as Flutter Entertainment, bought majority ownership of FanDuel in 2018.
3. Fanatics Trading Cards – $350 million. Sports-merchandise company Fanatics Inc. jumped into trading cards by securing in late 2021 Series A funding worth $350 million for the new business, called Fanatics Trading Cards. Fanatics also acquired in January Topps trading cards for a reported $500 million. The trading card venture will tie into the larger sports commerce business that Fanatics is building, which will operate across gaming, sports betting, media, and retail stores.
4. Jackpocket – $199.6 million. Jackpocket lets users purchase lottery tickets through an app. The company was founded in 2013 by Peter Sullivan and is now live in 12 US states.
5. Simplebet – $82.2 million. Simplebet is a software developer that uses machine learning to generate real-time odds and enable microbets for sportsbooks. It was founded in 2018 by Chris Bevilacqua, Joey Levy, and Scott Marshall, and has scored investments from plenty of big names including the San Francisco Giants, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and Jake Paul.
6. Playdom – $76 million. Playdom still cracks the list despite being defunct since 2016. The game developer was founded in 2009 by Ling Xiao, Chris Wang, and Dan Yue and helped innovate social-media gaming through properties such as Social City and Market Street. Playdom was acquired in 2010 by Disney for $563 million before incentives.
7. Mojo – $75 million. Mojo topped this year’s list of largest VC funding after closing in March a $75 million Series A. The upcoming sports stock market — which gives bettors the opportunity to bet on athletes like stocks — was cofounded by MLB legend Alex Rodriguez, Bart Stein, Marc Lore, and Vinit Bharara.
8. Sporttrade – $46 million. Sporttrade is a sports-betting exchange that mirrors betting with the stock market. Bets are valued on a zero-to-100 scale based on implied probability, and bettors are able to buy and trade bets at any time. It was founded in 2018 by Alex Kane.
9. Wave Sports + Entertainment – $42.7 million. WSE is a sports-media company with a wide social media presence through its more than a dozen sports and entertainment brands like Haymakers, Gym Heroes, and Buckets. Founded as Wave.tv in 2017, WSE recently secured $27 million in Series B funding from investors that include NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, it was not spared from the slumping economy, as just last month the company laid off 56 employees, or about a third of its workforce.
10. Sorteo Games – $37.0 million. Now-defunct software developer Sorteo Games ekes into the top 10. Founded in 2002, Sorteo Games developed wireless applications for sports betting, games, and lotteries and was known for its proprietary software technology, Digital Orchid Lottery Gaming Platform.