This week: Yaspa snares $12M investment to disrupt gaming payments

Yaspa’s disruptive payment tech, Handigraph launches baseball handicapping tools, and EdgeSports gears up to release its live predictive modeling product.

Author

Cody Luongo
July 03, 2025

Yaspa raises $12M investment to disrupt gaming payments

The news: Discerning Capital has led a $12M investment into London-based fintech company Yaspa to support its U.S. market entry. The deal includes over $10M from Discerning and a board seat for partner David Williams—longstanding Yaspa investor TechStars Ventures also participated in the round.

Zoom in: Yaspa blends open banking and AI to deliver real-time payments, verified insights, and identity services tailored for regulated industries. The company is banking that its account-to-account (A2A) payments tech has global appeal for regulated gambling operators as a cheaper alternative with more seamless player protection integrations. In a post online, Discerning Managing Partner Davis Catlin emphasized that A2A’s ability to manage chargebacks would address “one of the most significant issues in gambling.”

Why it matters: Payments are a major pain point in real-money gaming, and Yaspa’s tech promises a cleaner, faster, and safer alternative for both users and operators. The deal comes just weeks after Discerning launched a multi-million dollar initiative to offer non-dilutive loans for user acquisition—underscoring its belief in backing infrastructure that helps operators grow smarter. 

Handigraphs launches with suite of baseball handicapping tools

The news: Handigraphs, a suite of tools for baseball handicapping, has been launched by Adam Rosenberg and CJ Buskey. The product aggregates advanced metrics across the web into one customizable, export-ready interface. The platform is designed to support smarter betting decisions across props like strikeouts, home runs, and team totals.

Zoom in: Handigraphs solves a common pain point: jumping between scattered sites with inconsistent data formats. Its proprietary tools include split visualizations that show batter-pitcher matchups over 30/60/90/120 plate appearances—segmented by handedness and built for actionable insight. What began as a nightly pitcher-tracking ritual has evolved into a toolset for baseball handicappers.

Why it matters: As betting becomes more data-driven, the demand for precision tools is growing—and Handigraphs joins a wave of new products rising to meet it. The platform reflects a shift toward empowering users with flexible, transparent analysis instead of black-box picks. In addition to his comms background, Rosenberg (formerly of Action Network and others) frequently doubles as a content creator—highlighting how sharp influencers can turn audience trust into real utility and action.

How EdgeSports used its own predictive AI bets to fund development

The news: EdgeSports—a betting tool using AI to help users find value and edge—is gearing up to launch its live modeling product on the startup’s iOS app this month. The tech can also inject real-time prediction feeds directly into Discord and Telegram communities. In closed beta, the live product hit 75% on the moneyline and 64% against the spread, and the launch comes ahead of what’s expected to be a breakout NFL season.

Zoom in: The idea behind EdgeSports sparked when founder Ben Howard started a simple spreadsheet to help make smarter NFL bets while working at Penn Entertainment. What was just a hobby helped net one of his coworkers a several-thousand dollar payout and planted a seed for his predictive AI app. EdgeSports has been entirely bootstrapped to-date, and had used its own predictions to help fund early development—before books started limiting them. 

Why it matters: Sportradar estimates that live betting will represent 75% of U.S. sports bets in 2025, making in-play the biggest battleground in real-money gaming. EdgeSports is building for that moment with a live model designed to spot value faster than the books can adjust. Early results suggest it’s working—and Howard says online betting communities are increasingly taking notice.

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