Tampa-based venture firm Florida Funders has invested for the fifth time in internet celebrity Jake Paul's sports betting app Betr.
Last week, Miami-based Betr announced a raise of $15 million led by New York and Miami investment firms, pushing the startup's valuation to $375 million, according to a release. The news doesn't directly affect the Tampa Bay area, but it holds significance for Florida Funders and the broader venture capital ecosystem, Florida Funders partner Saxon Baum told Tampa Bay Inno.
The new capital validates Florida Funder's interest in Betr and speaks to Betr's execution as a startup, Baum said.
"We believe that Betr could become the largest consumer product that Florida has ever seen," Baum said in a statement.
Florida Funders led Betr's first funding round as one of the first institutional investors. It has made four other investments into Betr and has plans to continue to support the platform in the future, Baum said. Florida Funders was the only Tampa investor in the recent funding raise.
Florida Funders active 2024
The Betr funding round continues a string of investments from Florida Funders in 2024.
In February, it participated with Tampa General Hospital's investment arm TGH Ventures in a $25 million Series B funding round for Miami-based HealthSnap. In January, Florida Funders saw San Francisco-based portfolio company Mesh raise $6.5 million through PayPal ventures and participated in Tampa automation platform Rewst's $31 million Series B funding round.
On Betr, another Tampa venture capital firm, TampaBay.Ventures, invested alongside Florida Funders in the platform's early days. The investments into Betr are a testament to the company and regional venture capital scene, TampaBay.Ventures general partner Andreas Calabrese said.
"The two venture capital firms based here have participated in one of the fastest-growing companies in the sports vertical ever," Calabrese said. "While the startup itself is not necessarily based here, it's still an incredible mark of progress for our venture capital community."
