![]() ![]() The higher a Manager’s position in a leaderboard, the better the card prizes they earn. ![]() Based on the players’ performance in real life games, all entered lineups get ranked against one another in a leaderboard. ![]() Managers enter these lineups in different tournaments, each with their own entry requirements such as the age of the players or the region their club plays in. Sorare also plans to open its first US office soon and to launch new initiatives to support sports activities for young people and fund other startups in the ecosystem.įounded in 2018 and Nicolas Julia, CEO, Sorare allows users, called Managers, to create lineups consisting of 5 players: a goalkeeper, a defender, a midfielder, a forward, and one other outfield player. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth within football while also replicating its model in other sports, expand its team by hiring across key roles, and launch marketing campaigns with partners, athletes, and media companies. In addition to the investment, Marcelo Claure, CEO of SoftBank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group, will join Sorare’s Board of Directors. The round was led by Softbank, with participation from Atomico, Bessemer Ventures, D1 Capital, Eurazeo, IVP and Liontree and existing investors Benchmark, Accel and Headline, as well as football players Gerard Piqué, Antoine Griezmann, Rio Ferdinand and César Azpilicueta. “We believe this is a huge opportunity to create the next sports entertainment giant, bringing Sorare to more football fans and organizations, and to introduce the same proven model to other sports and sports fans worldwide.Sorare, a Paris, France, NFT-based fantasy football platform, raised $680m in Series B financing giving it a new valuation of $4.3 billion. “We are thrilled by the success we have seen so far, but this is just the beginning,” says Julia. For example, NBA Top Shot is a $683 million online marketplace where basketball fans can buy and sell video highlights of their favorite players, and newly established Candy Digital is an NFT startup founded by sports merchandise company Fanatics in partnership with Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz and chairman of communications company VaynerX, Gary Vaynerchuck. According to the company, over $150 million worth of cards traded on the platform since January, and the number of monthly active users grew by 34 times between Q2 2020 and Q2 2021 while quarterly sales increased more than 50 times over the same period.Īs similar platforms, built at the intersection of sports and crypto collectibles, take off, the freshly minted unicorn hopes to replicate its model in other sports. Sorare says it has over 600,000 registered users on the platform and has licensed players from over 180 professional clubs, including Real Madrid, Liverpool, Juventus, the French and German Football Federation. Both players as well as Chelsea captain César Azpilicueta and former Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand also participated in the current round. In December 2020, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique joined the startup as a strategic advisor. “He's a real fan and brings me feedback on the scoring” ( Forbes has not received a confirmation from Griezmann’s team by press time). “Antoine, for instance, is playing the game on a regular basis,” Julia says. Notably, some of these players have interacted with Sorare’s platform first-hand, according to Julia. The most expensive cards, featuring star players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann, sell for nearly 100,000 EUR or more. In the case of Sorare, players trade and manage a team with digital cards in the form of unique digital assets, namely non-fungible tokens verifiable via the Ethereum blockchain. “I’ve personally joined the board,” he told Forbes in an exclusive interview, “which is something that I try not to do, but I'm just so motivated by Sorare’s potential and what it’s trying to build.”įounded in 2018, the French startup has quickly established a dominant presence in fantasy sports, the world of online games where users can assemble virtual teams of real players of a professional sport. The conglomerate has invested in multiple cryptocurrency startups, including Brazil’s largest crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin and Peter Thiel-backed venture Bullish, and Claure has been taking an increasingly hands-on approach to managing his investments. It is this credo of ‘a game within a game’ that prompted SoftBank to lead the fundraise, according to Marcelo Claure, CEO of SoftBank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group. Register today and meet all-star crypto and tax experts guaranteed to share insights and advice on how to navigate the often-confusing crypto tax landscape. ![]()
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