Today, Champions Round, a business that specialises in providing fantasy leagues to Gen Z sports lovers, made the announcement that it successfully received $7 million in fresh Series A investment.
The investment round will be used to create an entirely novel feature called “Creator Rooms.”
This feature will provide sports content producers with the chance to communicate beyond that with youngsters by providing content and fantasy sporting events.
Point72 Ventures and Goodwater Capital were the two firms that took the lead in the Series A funding round.
Additional funding came from Pipeline Capital, Quest Venture Partners, Mana Ventures, Gaingels, and the Band of Angels. Up to this point, the firm has managed to secure $10 million in funding.
Typical fantasy sports, in which leagues are bound to a whole season, are losing popularity among users, especially among those in the Gen Z generation.
Daily fantasy sports (DFS) is a subgenre of fantasy sports games in which participants compete against one another over shorter time periods rather than over the course of a full season.
Daily fantasy sports (DFS) is a subgenre of fantasy sports games in which participants compete against one another over shorter time periods rather than over the course of a full season.
According to the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA), daily fantasy sports are played by more than 30 million individuals in the United States, which is a 12% increase from 2019.
Users have the option to participate in micro fantasy sports, which Champions Round refers to as “short-form games” and calls “micro fantasy sports.”
These games may be played on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. Users, in particular, do not need to subscribe to a whole season in order to pick and oversee a squad in conjunction with a certain event, such as the National Football League draught.
FanDuel and DraftKings presently have the majority share of the market for daily fantasy sports.
Yet, the vast majority of DFS games can only be played with real money. At the same time, the Champions Round provides players with two choices: play for free or pay to participate.
“Fantasy sports have traditionally required significant commitments from their players, seldom rewarded those players, and may be extremely difficult and tedious to play,” Carter Russ, co-founder and CEO of Champions Round, said in a statement.
“Fantasy sports are not what they used to be.” “We’ve built repetitive gameplay with a rock-solid gameplay loop that calls for pals to play with one another over and over again,” says the company.
Champions Round will introduce a brand new Creative Rooms feature in July 2023 as part of its ongoing investment in its app, which is specifically designed for Generation Z users. According to the firm, the future functionality would make it easier for authors to commercialize huge crowds.
Champions Round revealed to TechCrunch that it offers content producers monetary compensation in exchange for their participation in fantasy league games alongside their respective audiences.
The firm did not provide any information on the amount of money earned by the contributors but did say that it was dependent on the level of participation and the quantity of subscriptions.
The firm has informed us that in the future, Champions Round would have the capacity to instinctively pay content producers on the platform for “interaction, sign-ups, cosmetic goods sold inside their rooms, revenue sharing, and ad income.”
Dom2k, Fantasy Football Analyst, Dan Titus, Jeff Haseley, Trell Jones, Spencer Aguiar, Steph Smalls, and many more are among the noteworthy first- and third-party content developers.
“[Gen Z] does not watch whole sports games; instead, they consume sports through following content providers, players, teams, personalities, and highlights on social media.” According to the firm, “by designing games that fit this bite-sized, serialized sports enthusiasm, we are truly addressing their requirements.”
According to the information provided by the firm, Champions Round has also gotten support from prominent sports figures.
This includes, amongst others, a former NBA point guard named Baron Davis, a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs named Melvin Gordon, a safety for the New Orleans Saints named Tyrann Mathieu, and a basketball player named Zaire Wade, who is the son of a former starting point guard for the Miami Heat named Dwayne Wade.
This includes, amongst others, a former NBA point guard named Baron Davis, a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs named Melvin Gordon, a safety for the New Orleans Saints named Tyrann Mathieu, and a basketball player named Zaire Wade, who is the son of a former starting point guard for the Miami Heat named Dwayne Wade.
The most recent capital will be used to expand the company’s content business, which now consists of a YouTube channel, podcasts, and several social media platforms (including Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Discord).
In conjunction with this, it will make it possible for the business to establish a new marketing department and increase the total number of personnel on its team from thirty to sixty. Coddy Johnson, who formerly served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard, has just joined the board of directors.
Russ, an entrepreneur who has designed and created his fantasy basketball league for more than a decade, and Chase Payne, who has more than 15 years of experience with gaming companies such as Electronic Arts and Zynga, originally established Champions Round in 2018. Russ is the commissioner of his fantasy basketball league.
Payne was also a founder member of Major League Fantasy, a daily fantasy sports platform that was bought by Latitude 360 in 2015. Payne’s role in the broadcaster’s creation is unknown.
Russ shared with us that the team’s goal was to discover “ways to develop methods to replicate social moments in sports at any and all times of the year.”
“We felt empowered, which allowed us to reconnect with the fundamental that gave sports the most meaning: playing with our friends.”
We were certain that fantasy sports, which had historically occurred on a yearly basis, should be accessible at any time, regardless of whether or not there are monetary awards.
The application will be made available to the general public in the month of September 2021. Champions Round says that it achieved an organic growth rate of 28% month-over-month in 2022, which was the typical growth rate for the year.
It is possible that the new marketers will contribute to the expansion of its user base. The typical user is averaged in 22 years old.
In addition to this, the corporation boasted that it had only recently turned a profit. According to Russ and Payne, “We turned a profit, which is something that only a very small number of fantasy sports companies have ever done.”
Champions Round has six different game modes to choose from.These include “Daily Dozen,” in which users select from a pool of 12 different props each day; “Boost Ball,” which follows the standard format for snake draught; “Big Board,” in which users can snake draught a selection of incoming prospects; “Spicy Slips,” which is a prediction game; “7 Stakes,” in which players answer questions to earn points; and “Sunday’s Best,” which is a daily fantasy game.Users have the option to compete in private tournaments with up to 16 of their friends or to join public leagues with complete strangers.
At this time, the Champions Round only provides access to games from the NFL and NBA.
Also, it offers games for those who are interested in eSports. By the year 2024, it will have expanded to include a greater number of leagues, including the English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and Bundesliga, as well as Formula 1, League of Legends, Rocket League, Apex Legends, and Fortnite, amongst others.
Users in the United States who download the Champions Round app are restricted to playing for real money in only over thirty-five states, similar to the restrictions placed on users of sports-betting apps.
These states include Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and Virginia, among others.
In addition to monetary rewards, the Champions Round provides players with the opportunity to earn in-game memorabilia and digital artefacts like jerseys and helmets. Players may also earn ranks and access a variety of additional gamification elements.
Users will ultimately be eligible for special leagues that include greater cash rewards if they play in sufficient numbers of leagues, earn points, or make purchases inside the app.
Moreover, Champions Round intends to provide additional “customization, advancement, and tactical accomplishments” for each of its gameplay modes in the near future.
The Champions Round may be played anywhere in the world. The application may be installed on mobile devices running either iOS or Android.
