US Betting Exchange Startup Sporttrade Secures $36m in Funding

  • Sporttrade has numerous notable investors from the gaming and finance spaces on board
  • The company will use the funds for customer acquisition and expansion
  • Sporttrade aims to be the only sports betting exchange in the US upon launch
  • It is awaiting regulatory and licensing approval in NJ, hoping to launch in the latter half of 2021
  • Sporttrade will make its money by taking a percentage from each winning bet
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Sporttrade has secured $36m in funding to help bolster its efforts to launch and expand its sports betting exchange in the US. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

A significant round of fundraising

Sports betting exchange startup Sporttrade has secured $36m in funding. The Philadelphia-based company revealed details of its latest round of funding in a statement on Tuesday.

A number of notable investors from the gaming and finance sectors committed funds, including former MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren and former Nasdaq Stock Exchange CEO Tom Wittman. Firms like Jump Capital, Hudson River Trading, Impression Ventures, and Tower Research Ventures also got involved.

will go toward expanding into more states, acquiring customers, and continuing to invest in its team

In addition to raising these funds, Sporttrade also issued some convertible debt to Nasdaq Ventures. The money that Sporttrade raised will go toward expanding into more states, acquiring customers, and continuing to invest in its team.

Plans to go live soon

Speaking about this recent round of funding was Sporttrade CEO and founder Alex Kane, who said that the fundraising will help the company achieve its goal “to elevate the sports betting industry by applying capital markets principles and technology and to place the customer at the forefront.”

Jump Capital partner Yelena Shkolnik spoke about why the firm invested in Sporttrade. She said: “The US bettor will finally have a transparent open market of sports betting wagers to trade, and we couldn’t be more excited to be a partner.”

Sporttrade has not yet launched in the US market; it seeks to be the only sports betting exchange in the country. It is currently awaiting licensing and regulatory approval from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. This would be through one of Bally’s Corporation’s online sports betting skins. Once it gets the green light, Sporttrade plans to have its iOS app up and running in the Garden State during the second half of 2021.

A new form of betting in the US

Sporttrade began in 2018 and plans to offer bettors an open marketplace in which they can trade sporting events with one another in a similar way that people trade stocks. It claims that its platform will offer enhanced liquidity and tighter spreads, as well as some unique features, including the ability to always be able to trade in and out of wagers.

While Sporttrade will not accept any bets, it will take a cut of a person’s winnings from a given wager. CEO Alex Kane previously stated that the commission would initially be around the 1% mark. He also said that the commission would hopefully drop to 0.1% in three years.

This is not the only significant crossover between Wall Street and a US-focused sports betting operator in the past few weeks. Already this month, financial trading firm Susquehanna bought a minority stake in the sports betting operator Smarkets. The operator currently has a sportsbook live in Colorado and is soon to launch in Indiana.

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