DraftKings operates daily fantasy sports contests and builds its business around professional sports advertising and partnerships. The company spends heavily on marketing — it spent $156M on TV ads last year — and concentrates ad spend around the NFL season. DraftKings has spent the past year fighting dozens of state legislatures and courts to get daily fantasy sports legalized, a legislative battle that has consumed resources. The company hasn’t said how it will use the new funding, though the article notes the timing aligns with the NFL advertising season. Having team and league owners involved on the cap table (the article cites investors such as Robert Kraft and the MLB) is framed as helpful for maintaining relationships with professional leagues. Recent regulatory pressure and legal costs have pressured the company and its valuation over the past 12 months. DraftKings, founded in 2012 by Jason Robins, Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman, is a Boston, Mass.-based skill-based Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) gaming platform. It enables North American fans to compete in single-day online games for cash and prizes across a wide variety of professional and collegiate sports. The company is the exclusive DFS partner of Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, NASCAR, Ultimate Fighting Championship and Major League Soccer. DraftKings plans to use the new capital to continue building out its web and mobile products, launch internationally, and explore new vertical expansion opportunities. The article reports a $300M Series D raise to support those initiatives. DraftKings operates daily fantasy sports contests that let users enter new lineups frequently rather than committing to season-long leagues. Founded just two years ago, the company has grown rapidly and expects to pay out about $200 million in prizes this year, including four monthly $1 million prizes during the NFL season. DraftKings has raised nearly $75 million in outside financing to date, including a $41 million Series C led by The Raine Group and a prior $25 million round last November. The company has pursued user growth through acquisitions, buying DraftStreet (retaining much of the team and its New York City office) and acquiring StarStreet's assets and migrating those users to its platform. It plans to use the latest funding to accelerate customer acquisition ahead of the NFL season via TV, radio, digital and mobile channels and to invest in product development with a focus on mobile. DraftKings describes its business as seasonal for customer acquisition and aims to leverage The Raine Group's media, entertainment, and gaming connections to drive growth. DraftKings facilitates fantasy baseball, football, basketball and hockey matchups online and through a series of mobile apps. The company is 18 months old and has seen rapid user and revenue growth. Since August it has tripled its customer base and reported revenue growth of 10x year‑over‑year. About three-quarters of users who signed up in 2012 returned this year, and average users spend more than five hours per week on its site and mobile apps. DraftKings raised $24 million in a Series B led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from GGV Capital, Atlas Venture, and BDS Ventures. The new funding follows a $7 million Series A raised six months earlier. DraftKings is a Boston-based provider of daily fantasy sports accessible online and via mobile, offering contests across fantasy baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. The company features daily contests with same-day settlement and salary-cap formatted games, and it offers both free and paid contests that pay cash prizes. Launched April 28, 2012, DraftKings has grown rapidly in its first year, becoming the #1 daily fantasy sports mobile app provider and launching contests in six sports. It has surpassed 1 million users across web and mobile, with the average user spending over three hours per week and playing 2.6 different sports. For the 2013 fantasy baseball season the company will award over $20M in cash prizes, including a currently running $5 Million Chase for the Crown tournament. DraftKings plans to use new funding to continue to perfect the customer experience and broadly market its online and mobile short-term fantasy sports offerings.

Total raised

$523M

Funding rounds

6

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Sep 2016