Betting Startups News for weeks of October 7 & 14, 2024

Hey! We’re back at our desks after an insanely busy but productive G2E last week in Vegas. Shout out to everybody that we got to connect and catch up with there.

Thomas and I were there representing BettingStartups.com at our booth on the expo floor, where we recorded around 30 ‘Quick Hit’ interviews with industry startup founders.

We’re putting the final touches on some edits, and will be releasing them every weekday for the next few weeks. Follow the BettingStartups.com page on Linkedin or on Twitter to see the video interviews in your feed.

Anyways we’re home, rested, and fired up to bring you the latest from the real money gaming industry’s early-stage ecosystem ⤵️

📰 Headline news

Several growth-stage companies shared impressive September results:

• Betty, the Ontario-licensed online casino startup, generated $5.5m USD in net revenue in September (an implied $66m annual run rate!) (Link)

• Linemate, the “Expedia for sports betting”, revealed that September was its best month yet, with over 24,000 app downloads. (Link)

• 4casters betting exchange shared that September was its most traded month of all-time, bringing YTD exchange volume to $221.7m. (Link)

• WalterPicks, the AI-based fantasy sports research platform, reached #6 in the app store in September, alongside a number of other impressive metrics. (Link)

And elsewhere:

• Sporttrade, which is now licensed to operate in 5 states, announced new funding from existing investor SIGSports Analytics. (Link)

• Micro-betting provider nVenue announced that its markets will be made available through Sportradar’s unified odds feed. (Link)

• RotoUnderworld, developers of the FastDraft app, announced a $1.5m pre-seed round for its new fantasy sports product. (Link)

• STX, the Ontario-based betting exchange, announced a new B2B offering called Betstack. (Link)

• Sparket jumped into the sweepstakes game through a partnership with Sportzino. (Link)

Are you an industry startup with news to share? Send us your PR for inclusion here.

💬 Ink & airwaves

The best of what we’ve read, watched, and listened to:

• 🎙️ Ep. 134 of The Betting Startups Podcast featured Evan Kirkham from Outlier. Recorded on-site at the SBC Summit in Lisbon, Evan talked about how things have changed since reaching product-market fit, the flywheel that has them pushing 500k bets per week to sportsbooks, his thoughts on the betting tools landscape, and why he abandoned a fundraising process earlier this year in favor of organic growth. Watch or listen now (37:28): YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

• 🎙️ Ep. 135 of The Betting Startups Podcast was our quarterly Investor Vibe Check episode, which featured Evan Meyer (Astralis Capital), Paris Smith (Life Winning), and Joel Simkins (XST Capital). The panel discussed topics including consolidation within the micro-betting category, the convergence of betting and media (or lack thereof), expectations for the soon-to-launch Brazil market, the attractiveness of the sweepstakes model from an investment perspective - and much more. Watch or listen now (56:52): YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

• 🎙️ Ep. 222 of The Business of Betting Podcast featured Dean Sisun from ProphetX. Host Jason Trost and Dean discussed Prophet’s recent pivot to the sweepstakes model, why the regulated exchange concept didn’t work, and their predictions for the future of exchanges in the US. Watch or listen now (30:05): YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

• 📚 The Next: Volume 6 dropped, the series produced by the team at XST Capital. In this edition, XST Capital CEO Joel Simkins catches up with Betsperts CEO Reid Rooney. Read it here.

• 📺 Under the category of “this is cool”, the team at SharpStakes had a viral moment when they made a bet with Gary Vaynerchuk that would be resolved through a game of rock paper scissors. Watch how it unfolded for them ⤵️

@jaidenbets

Challenging Gary Vee to a match of rock paper scissors at Western University @GaryVee | +1 212 931 5731 @#fyp #westernuniversity #garyvee

🗓️ Industry event calendar

Upcoming events relevant to early-stage companies in the space:

• NEXT NYC officially returns March 12-13, 2025 - and BettingStartups.com is a media partner for this event! With an emphasis on connecting operators with suppliers, and startups with investors, join 1,200 executives at this premier conference in lower Manhattan. Tickets sell out every year, and this one will be no different, so book now! Use discount code BS1CYN52 for $100 off yours. Event Info | Buy Your Ticket

• SBC LatAm is right around the corner on October 29-31 in Miami. Join over 4,000 executives at Latin America’s premier iGaming and sports betting event! Event Info | Buy Your Ticket
  

• ICE makes its debut in Barcelona January 20-22, 2025, and registration is now open. Event Info | Register Free

🤝 Deal corner

1 new deal for your consideration in this week’s issue ⤵️

The Deal Corner is presented by XST Capital Group, the industry’s leading financial strategists.