Sports betting start-up GridRival raises $3m seed round
KB Partners leads investment into motorsports gaming platform
GridRival, a motorsports daily fantasy sports (DFS) and betting platform, has raised $3m in seed funding as it looks to expand its footprint in the US gaming space.
The funding round was led by KB Partners, a sports-tech fund based in Chicago. Among those joining KB Partners were Sharp Alpha Advisors and ESPT Ventures, in addition to a pair of respected sports betting investors in Lloyd Danzig and Benjie Cherniak.
“The number of global racing fans is huge but they are currently underserved by existing platforms that focus almost exclusively on traditional sports,” said KB Partners’ Steven Ahern. “We are thrilled to partner with the GridRival team as they build the first truly authentic fantasy sports and sports betting experience for this audience.”
GridRival, which began as a free-to-play (F2P) season-long DFS platform focusing on F1 and other popular motorsports, is going to use the new funding to launch its first real-money games in the US and UK in 2022. Its goal is to further leverage the convergence of betting and auto racing, with the latter representing an underserved slice of the gaming space.
“As a lifelong motorsports fan that’s been watching the DFS and sports betting craze from the sidelines, I knew one thing was clear — if any brand was going to engage the racing audience in a meaningful way at significant scale, it must be done with a platform exclusive to motorsports,” said GridRival CEO and co-founder Ross Fruin. “We plan to be the authentic, real-money gaming platform that race fans will actually resonate with.”
GridRival has so far proven successful at cornering the motorsports market, building a base of 120,000 users while delivering 2,000% YoY growth so far in 2021. The next phase will be centered around improving and expanding its product offerings in order to build brand loyalty and drive retention.
“Sports betting operators are currently amidst a customer acquisition gold rush in which the focus is increasingly being directed toward finding large, untapped audiences,” said Danzig. “GridRival has proven itself capable of targeting and engaging the motorsports fan base at scale with an authentic, full-featured app.”
GridRival’s app, which is available through the App Store and Google Play, boasts a host of features to aid and enhance the user experience, including research tools, performance data, leaderboards and social integrations.