Avid fantasy football players are certainly familiar with Matthew Berry, an ESPN personality and the face of the company's fantasy football coverage. And if you're really into fantasy football, you've downloaded Berry's Fantasy Life App, which provides users with relevant breaking news push notifications that help them make roster decisions.
The app has become a go-to resource for fantasy football players looking for an edge against their opponents.
Now, the popular app has a new owner in Chicago startup Betsperts.
Betsperts, a social media platform for sports bettors, announced Wednesday that it acquired Fantasy Life App in an all-stock deal. The new combined business is being renamed Betsperts Media and Technology Group. Berry, who was the majority shareholder of Fantasy Life App, is joining the Betsperts board and will now be a "significant minority shareholder" of the new company.
BetSperts CEO Reid Rooney told me that combining the two businesses made sense given the overlap of fantasy sports and sports gamblers.
"If you look at the industry of sports gambling and fantasy sports, you see a fairly significant crossover," he said.
Betsperts and Fantasy Life App combined saw more than 10 million monthly visits during last year's football season.
The key feature of Fantasy Life App, the real-time breaking news alerts, will continue and be enhanced, Rooney said, as the company plans to add additional sports and more breaking news to help gamblers, including things around player props. He added that having Berry on board will help the company as it continues to grow.
"I'm thrilled to have Matthew’s insights into the fantasy world and his experience with building Fantasy Life as part of the new combined company," Rooney said.
Betsperts now has 12 employees and expects to double that by 2022, Rooney said. The company is planning to raise an $8 million Series A round prior to the upcoming football season.
Betsperts has raised more than $2 million to date from backers like Parlay Capital Holdings and Velo Partners, as well as MLB players like Adam Wainwright and David Price, NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, and country singer Darius Rucker.
Founded in 2019 by Rooney and Austin Harper, Betsperts is a social network for sports gamblers who want to find experts who can help guide their bets. Users log their picks on Betsperts after making their bet, and the startup tracks and ranks gamblers based on their betting history. Gamblers can search for experts in every sports league, conference, division and even specific teams, allowing users to mimic the picks of successful bettors.
