Scotland’s FanDuel has come a long way since it spun out from news startup HubDub back in 2010. The fantasy sports operator is announcing that it has raised a whopping $275 million Series E, bringing total capital raised to $363 million and valuing the company at “over $1 billion”. In other words, chalk this up as another ‘unicorn’.
The round, which FanDuel claims was oversubscribed, was led by KKR, alongside Google Capital, Time Warner Investments, and Turner Sports. In addition, various NFL and NBA team owners also participated, along with previous investors, including Shamrock Capital, NBC Sports Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Pentech Ventures and Piton Capital.
FanDuel says the new capital will be used to boost its customer acquisition efforts across the U.S. and Canada — the two markets that the company exclusively targets, offering a multitude of one-day game options for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and college football and basketball, which is some feat for a startup originating out of Scottish city Edinburgh, even if FanDuel is now headquartered in New York City.
(Although, to be fair, Scotland, including its capital city, is home to a plethora of games companies, including Rockstar North, makers of Grand Theft Auto.)
In addition, FanDuel says it will invest in the acceleration of new products, features and “growth initiatives”. It also plans to continue to build out its “industry-leading” management team, perhaps on the road to a future IPO now that the company has hit that much-coveted (and hyped) $1 billion-plus valuation. Welcome to the Unicorn Club FanDuel.