Sorare, the European fantasy soccer and digital collectible platform recently announced that it has raised $680 million in Series B financing led by Softbank.
The raise is the largest ever in the NFT space and gives Sorare a new valuation of $4.3 billion. The Series B is led by SoftBank, with participation from Atomico, D1 Capital, Eurazeo, Bessemer Ventures, IVP and Liontree as well as existing investors high-profile business angels.
Sorare said that it will use this fund to even rapidly accelerate its mission to build a revolutionary gaming experience. Sorare also plans to expand into other sports. The company has plans to sign up the top 20 football leagues and expand into other sports to strengthen its place as the leading player in NFT-based fantasy sports. The platform is hiring a world-class team and soon will open an office in US to fuel its growth.
Source: Sorare
Earlier, last February the firm raised a $50 million in Series A round, led by venture capital firm Benchmark. Sorare is already host to NFTs from several Europe’s most popular teams.
Well, Sorare runs at the intersection of the fast-growing non-fungible token (NFT) market, sports cards and global fantasy sports, creating a multi-billion-dollar total addressable market opportunity. The firm has accomplished tremendous growth this year with more than $150 million worth of cards traded on the platform since January. Monthly active paying Sorare users have grown by 34 fold between Q2 2020 and Q2 2021, with quarterly sales increasing by 51 times over the same period.
Sorare said that it already has 600,000 registered users on the platform and has licensed players from over 180 football organizations, including Juventus, Real Madrid, Liverpool, the French and German Football Federation.
Sorare cards are actually NFTs, so each card is unique, scarce, and its ownership is publicly verifiable via the Ethereum blockchain. By collecting, owning and trading these limited edition digital collectibles, Sorare has designed a unique game experience where users can truly own their game and build real world connections.
"We are thrilled by the success we have seen so far, but this is just the beginning. We believe this is a huge opportunity to create the next sports entertainment giant, bringing Sorare to more football fans and organisations, and to introduce the same proven model to other sports and sports fans worldwide." noted Nicolas Julia, CEO and co-founder of Sorare.
Football players Rio Ferdinand, Antoine Griezmann, Gerard Piqué, and César Azpilicueta also participated in the round. Apart from the investment, Marcelo Claure, CEO of SoftBank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group will join Sorare's Board of Directors.