DraftKings Inc., a Boston-based daily fantasy sports company, has purchased local rival outfit StarStreet, the second acquisition this summer by DraftKings and the latest move in a period of marked growth for the company. The purchase of StarStreet follows a recent purchase of N.Y.-based DraftStreet. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. DraftKings recently closed on a $41M Series C round of venture capital funding designed to fund the company’s ongoing growth phase. N.Y.-based investment bank The Raine Group led the funding round, continuing a marked period of activity within digital sports for that company following its recent role advising the sale of Stats LLC to Vista Equity Partners and its acquisition of a majority position in online recruiting destination BeRecruited. Existing investors Redpoint Ventures, GGV Capital and Atlas Venture also participated in the latest funding round for DraftKings. The large round brings DraftKings’ total investment capital to nearly $75M since it launched in early ’12 and provides another signal to the mushrooming growth of the daily fantasy sports industry. “We think this is a real validation of the market for daily fantasy,” said DraftKings co-Founder & CMO Paul Liberman. “For us, this is a scale play where we’ve been able to take on the customer bases of these companies and reach a far wider audience.” Meanwhile, DraftKings this fall will debut its NFL Fantasy Football Millionaire series, a series of contests during the NFL season in which the company will award four separate $1M prizes. The prizes are believed to be the largest ever in daily fantasy sports. DraftKings now ranks second behind FanDuel in users within daily fantasy sports, but claims larger prize payouts.
