Daily online fantasy sports startup DraftKings announced Tuesday it has closed a $24 million Series B round. The oversubscribed round was led by Redpoint Ventures, and included GGV Capital, Atlas Venture and BDS Ventures. The startup will use the new funding to continue to scale marketing, develop strategic partnerships and bring in top talent.
Customer experience over the company’s mobile and Web products will continue to remain a priority, DraftKings Co-founder and CEO Jason Robins told BostInno:
In particular, we will be focusing on mobile and tablet as we have seen increasing traffic through these platforms and believe them to be critical components of our overall offering and key drivers of consumer engagement. In fact, we explicitly sought investors in this round who have had tremendous experience and success in mobile gaming, and we believe their expertise and network will help us take our mobile/tablet offering to new heights.
Started in 2012 by Robins, Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman, the now 30-person startup has quickly become a standout in the crowded field of daily fantasy sports. DraftKings raised $1.4 million in seed in July 2012, and reeled in over $10 million Series A (the round remained open after its initial announcement at $7 million) just last May. Tuesday’s announcement brings the barely two-year-old startup’s total funding to $35 million.
The biggest differentiator for the company, according to Atlas Venture partner and investor Ryan Moore, is in DraftKings’ execution.
“Our competitors have certain departments that are really strong, but we’ve got world-class scale and world-class customer acquisition. The founders really focused hard on building a strong team, and now it seems to be paying off,” Moore told BostInno, touting DraftKings’ leadership team.
“When I think back on the thesis to invest in this team, candidly, it was a bet on talent," shared Moore. “[Robins, Kalish and Liberman] have an inherent instinct around scaling customer acquisition.”
Since August 2013 alone, DraftKings has tripled its customer base, according to the release. Additionally, 75 percent of customers acquired in 2012 were still active in 2013, thanks to the cash prize contests and continued marketing innovations driven by the DraftKings team.
‘Tis the season for both giving and football, so what better time to announce a massive round of funding for the fantasy sports startup?
