Betr raises $35M in latest financing round, eyes expansion to new gaming verticals

Jake Paul-led micro-betting sports gaming company Betr has announced a $35 million round of financing, valuing the company at $300 million pre-money. The company held a set of initial closings for its Series A2 round of financing in Q2 and is scheduled to conduct a final closing in Q3. 

The round is co-led by Roger Ehrenberg via IA Sports Ventures and Eberg Capital, and Fuel Venture Capital, with Fuel expanding their investment size in Betr from $10 million invested to date to $20 million total. 

Betr noted that both its co-founders – Joey Levy via a personal investment and Jake Paul via Anti Fund – also participated in the round, and other major existing investors including FinSight Ventures, Florida Funders, and Aliya Capital Partners have invested "significantly" beyond their pro rata.

Betr eyes portfolio expansion

At first, Betr Gaming began with a micro-betting-only product, allowing users to bet on individual plays and events – such as pass or rush on the next play in football or the outcome of the next pitch in baseball. However, the firm is expanding its product offering to include additional markets with full sportsbook capabilities.

Betr Gaming is licensed and operational in Ohio and Massachusetts, is licensed in Virginia with plans to launch soon, and holds market access in Indiana and other jurisdictions that will be announced "soon."

In addition to online sports betting, Betr Gaming said it will be unveiling two additional real-money gaming verticals, which will be announced over the coming weeks and months, diversifying its proposal. 

Betr recently acquired the Chameleon platform from FansUnite, which will enable Betr Gaming to launch V1 of its online sports betting product, Betr Betting, with full sportsbook capabilities which will include pre-match and in-play core markets, parlays, same game parlays, futures, props, and other bet types, along with over additional sports. In addition to bolstering Betr Betting, the Chameleon platform will also support the two additional real money gaming verticals the company plans to announce.

In its update, Betr also noted that its media division, Betr Media, is now "the fastest-growing sports betting media brand in the United States," already surpassing 1.3B impressions on social media in its first 10 months. Betr Media is focused predominantly on original and short-form content, which the company believes will be the primary form of sports media consumption for the 21-34-year-old male demographic outside of consuming live sporting events themselves.

"Betr Media's unique approach of creating culture as opposed to reposting culture is also informing unprecedented media-audience-to-product conversion, with over 20% of Betr Media's estimated Ohio audience already converting to real money gaming customers for Betr Gaming," the company noted.

Betr says that it has laid the foundations for "a powerful flywheel" – where it can capitalize on its business and monetize users directly via Betr Gaming products, invest this capital in content creators via Betr Media to further drive brand awareness and brand affinity, and then funnel this incremental audience growth and engagement to Betr Gaming products.

Betr's Joey Levy

"I am thrilled to announce our Series A2 round of financing, which we opportunistically raised after successfully laying the foundations for Betr Gaming and Betr Media while validating some of our core theses," said Joey Levy, Founder, and CEO of Betr.

"Our ability to rapidly scale Betr Media's audience, and then convert this audience to Betr Gaming at low-to-no-CAC, will enable us to have the best unit economics in the regulated real money gaming industry, positioning Betr to create more value than incumbent operators over time."

"Betr is poised to change the dynamics of the online sports betting landscape by moving 'entertainment' front and center through compelling content, a superior user experience, and deeper engagement across both major and alternative sports," said investor Roger Ehrenberg. "Sports have a special ability to bring people together, and no company is better positioned to accelerate and benefit from this trend than Betr."