In advance of the upcoming NFL season, a Chicago sports betting startup raised more funding and made an acquisition as it grows its social network for sports betting and fantasy sports players.
Betsperts announced Thursday that it raised a $6 million Series A round led by HBSE Ventures and Verance Capital, two sports-focused venture firms. Other backers include Parlay Capital Holdings, Velo Partners, and David VanEgmond, the founder of Bettor Capital.
Betsperts has raised nearly $9 million to date.
Founded in 2019 as a social media platform for sports bettors, Betsperts allows gamblers to find and follow experts across different sports. The Betsperts app tracks and ranks gamblers based on their betting history, helping users know who to follow if they want advice on their next bet.
The startup has recently expanded beyond gambling and into the fantasy sports industry, making a splash earlier this spring when it acquired the Fantasy Life App, a tool that delivers breaking news push notifications to fantasy players. Fantasy Life App was created by notable fantasy football analyst and ESPN personality Matthew Berry.
Betsperts made another move into the fantasy sports arena this week by acquiring 4for4.com, a content, data and rankings tool for fantasy football.
Betsperts CEO Reid Rooney told Chicago Inno that the company plans to invest heavily in both sports betting and fantasy sports as it works to become one of the largest social networks in the U.S. for both audiences. Rooney said that during last football season, Betsperts and Fantasy Life App saw a combined 10 million monthly app visits, and both apps are expected to surpass one million lifetime downloads during the 2021 NFL season.
The legalization of sports gambling has continued to spur Betsperts' growth. And with active bills set to legalize betting in several additional states, Rooney believes the opportunity for the company is "massive."
"We're continuing to build the full vision of being the largest social platform for sports gambling and fantasy sports," he said.
