Splash Sports secures $14.5M to scale skill-based sports platform

Splash Sports raises a $14.5M Series B, Sharp Alpha launches a $150M non-dilutive growth fund, and how Griddy is turning fantasy football into a year-round game.

Author

Cody Luongo
October 09, 2025

Splash Sports secures $14.5M Series B to scale its social, skill-based sports platform

The news: Splash Sports, the Denver-based platform behind skill-based social sports gaming, has raised a $14.5M Series B to expand its product suite, scale marketing, and grow partnerships across the U.S. and Canada. The round was led by Dream Ventures, with participation from Boston Seed, Velvet Sea Ventures, Green Wave Ventures, and Evolution Partners. Splash also added investment from EP Golf Ventures—a joint fund between the PGA of America and Elysian Park Ventures (the private arm tied to LA Dodgers ownership)---to deepen its push into golf.

Zoom in: Splash differentiates itself from traditional fantasy or sportsbook models by letting fans “run the show” through real-money, peer-to-peer contests like Survivor, Pick ’Em, and Tiers. Operating in 44 U.S. states, D.C., and Canada, the platform enables creators, media brands, and even leagues to host their own contests and monetize engagement. “Our games allow every fan to be their own commissioner and coordinate their own contests for sports’ biggest moments,” said Splash Sports CEO & Co-founder TJ Ross, who noted that guaranteed contest volume for NFL kickoff this season grew 500% year-over-year to $6.4 million.

Why it matters: As interactive fan experiences blur the lines between gaming, media, and fandom, Splash is positioning itself as the social layer of sports gaming. Investors see a broader shift underway: products that put fans, not operators, at the center of engagement. Or as Dream Ventures’ Richard Blankenship put it: “They’re building for the modern fan—social, competitive, and community-first.”

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Why it matters: We’re running three active weekly shows with more on the way, and we need someone who can turn our production function into a scalable machine. If you’ve built multi-show pipelines before, know what “great” looks like in podcasting, and thrive on process, this is your stage. You’ll own the systems, workflows, and team behind the mic—and help shape the leading voices within the real-money gaming ecosystem. If that sounds like you, apply here!

Sharp Alpha launches $150M fund to fuel non-dilutive growth across gaming and entertainment

The news: Investment firm Sharp Alpha has closed a $150M fund to provide non-dilutive growth capital for sports, gaming, and entertainment companies. The new Sharp Alpha UA Fund will deploy capital over the next two years, offering $4–$30M investments to accelerate customer acquisition for growth-stage businesses. “Unlike traditional equity or venture debt, cohort-based financing aligns capital deployment directly with acquisition outcomes,” said Managing Partner Lloyd Danzig, emphasizing that the structure “preserves ownership, avoids restrictive covenants, and scales with company growth.”

Zoom in: The fund targets profitable or near break-even companies in the $10–$100 million revenue range with strong retention and payback periods. The news marks the second major user acquisition financing vehicle to emerge in gaming this year, following the launch of Discerning Capital’s $100M House Advantage Fund (HAF) in June—which recently exercised its facility to support Midnite’s UK acceleration. Together, the two funds signal growing institutional appetite for structured, non-dilutive models that let companies scale growth without reshaping their cap tables.

Why it matters: With venture funding still tight and IPO windows largely closed, capital efficiency has become the new growth currency. For founders, cohort-based financing offers a middleground—venture-like acceleration without giving up equity. For investors, it offers predictable returns and real cash distributions instead of waiting for liquidity events. Sharp Alpha’s latest move underscores how the gaming sector’s financial infrastructure is maturing, as firms increasingly blend growth equity and structured finance to meet the unique needs of online gaming, prediction markets, and interactive entertainment.

How Griddy turned fantasy football into a year-round game

The news: Fantasy sports have always been defined by their seasonality. Fans live for the fall, only to spend the next eight months waiting for kickoff. That off-season gap is what Brian Birt set out to close with Griddy, a new fantasy sports app built for year-round play. “I wanted to build a game that passionate sports fans can look forward to playing every single morning they wake up,” the founder told BettingStartups.

Zoom in: Birt, who previously helped launch Sleeper’s real-money fantasy product, wanted to remove fantasy’s dependence on live games entirely. Griddy introduces what he calls fantasy football puzzles—a nine-round draft where players assemble the best team possible without real-world stats or outcomes. It borrows the drafting experience from games like Madden Ultimate Team and FIFA (now EAFC), but condenses them into a quick, accessible daily experience. Free-to-play by design, users get a few drafts per day and can buy extra “draft tokens” through in-app purchases. The low friction from F2P has fueled organic growth to 30,000 users and 3 million games played this year, with Reddit serving as a key channel for Birt to exercise some founder-led marketing.

Why it matters: More than half of new players still log in a month later, which Birt says puts Griddy “in the 99th percentile” for app retention. That success suggests fans crave a lighter, more consistent way to engage with fantasy beyond game days. And because it’s untethered from live stats, the model is portable to other sports—or even entertainment. Birt pointed to how viewers of ‘The Bachelor’ wait for episodes to air weekly similarly to the seasonal lulls football fans experience. But whether it’s football, basketball, or entertainment, Griddy’s goal is largely the same: make fandom playable year-round.

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