Smarkets operates a sophisticated betting exchange and a sportsbook app called SBK that draws prices from the exchange. The platform processes billions of pounds of traded volume each year and offers licensed, customer-focused operations in five countries. The company is headquartered in London and also has offices in Los Angeles and Malta. Since its 2008 founding it has raised just £3.8m ($5.4m) in total, with a Series A in 2013. Smarkets plans to accelerate its US rollout (already live in Colorado and set to launch in Indiana), bolster SBK’s position in the UK mainstream market, and expand into markets such as Denmark and Sweden. The company intends to develop new customer products, maintain industry-leading prices on sports, politics, and current affairs, and double headcount by the end of 2022. Smarkets operates a peer-to-peer betting exchange that enables users to set their own odds and trade bets against each other, competing most directly with Betfair. The company charges a 2% commission per bet, which it describes as an industry-low. It reports about £30m in transactions traded per month. The freshly raised capital will be used to accelerate technical and product development, with hires in engineering and developer roles. Product roadmap items include launching new markets for trading, a dedicated mobile app, and price history and trading charts. Smarkets was founded by Jason Trost in 2008 and publicly launched in early 2010; the company is based in London. Smarkets is a London social gambling startup offering a betting exchange where users set odds and bet against each other before and during events. The company was founded in 2008 by CEO Jason Trost and CTO Hunter Morris. It competes with Betfair and, to some degree, Intrade and Betdaq. Smarkets reports strong growth in trading volume: the platform is now seeing £1 million traded each week and volume is growing roughly 30% month-on-month. In April it hit £10 million of lifetime bets and was on track to pass £20 million in June. The company plans to use new funding to build out the platform and hire engineers to challenge traditional bookmakers and exchanges. Smarkets is a social betting exchange that launched publicly after a private beta, initially offering football/soccer markets including UK league matches, the Champions League and the World Cup. The company plans to add bets on the UK general election shortly. It positions itself as a high‑tech, social alternative to established exchanges and aims to introduce social elements absent from competitors. The team includes veterans from Last.fm and Yahoo! (Russ Garrett, Bradley Wright, Alex Lee). Competitors named in the article include Betfair (valued at $3 billion), Intrade, TradeSports and BetDaq. The company has declared $410,000 in backing from an angel round and is based in Clerkenwell’s White Bear Yard. Smarkets is a pre-launch betting exchange focused on making betting simpler and more entertainment-driven than traditional odds-based platforms. The product emphasizes speed and removes the need for users to understand odds, aiming for broad accessibility. A notable feature is an open API so developers can build betting applications on Smarkets infrastructure. Founders Jason Trost (27) and Hunter Morris (26), both American computer science graduates, are leading the effort from London. The company raised a $200k convertible note from five private investors to fund product development and regulatory steps. Planned uses of the funds include purchasing a Malta gambling license, running a private beta in summer 2008, and a public launch in Autumn 2008; competitors include Betfair, Intrade, TradeSports, Betdaq, Hubdub, and Pikum.

Total raised

$4M

Funding rounds

5

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Feb 2013