DraftKings has closed on a $300M Series D round of venture funding, valuing the company at more than $1B and "extending a historic wave of investment" into the daily fantasy sports space, according to Eric Fisher of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Fox Sports "led the round, joined by MLB, the NHL, MLS, Madison Square Garden and Legends Hospitality." Existing investors including Atlas Venture, The Kraft Group and The Raine Group also participated, "with Raine serving as the financial adviser on the deal." The funding for Boston-based DraftKings closely follows a $275M Series E round earlier this month for rival FanDuel that also "valued it at more" than $1B. DraftKings' funding is "being positioned for product development and expansion efforts, including internationally." The global component "is of particular importance to DraftKings, and company officials have been in Europe recently to explore potential business opportunities, with the United Kingdom as the initial target." The deal includes $250M in "marketing commitments for DraftKings on Fox platforms over roughly three years." The latest DraftKings funding "replaces an investment structure that was to include ESPN and its parent company, The Walt Disney Co." The Kraft Group "was an early investor in DraftKings, but its involvement on an equity level has not been previously announced." Fox Sports said that it "has been talking with DraftKings for more than a year about potentially investing in the company, and that its position didn’t shift much after the Disney/ESPN decision not to invest." Fox Sports’ relationship with DraftKings "is also nonexclusive, and it can still do business with FanDuel and other similar entities" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/27 issue).
EATING LIKE KINGS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Lora Kolodny cites a source as saying that Fox Networks’ expected $150M position for 11% of DraftKings "would give the startup a post-money valuation of more" than $1.2B (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/27). In Boston, Curt Woodward notes the investment is a way for Fox "to increase the audience of rabid sports fans watching its programs." Fox Sports President Eric Shanks: "The more you play daily fantasy, the more likely you are to consume our content. All of that is good for Fox from a strategic standpoint" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/27). DraftKings co-Founder & CEO Jason Robins said that added money "would let DraftKings provide further differentiation of its products from its competitors, with more social media features, and allow it to expand to Europe and Asia" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/27).
ON THE OTHER SIDELINE: Turner Sports Exec VP & GM Matt Hong said that DraftKings competitor FanDuel "is poised for exposure" among NBA fans, as Turner "plans to integrate FanDuel with Turner’s NBA on TNT and NBA Digital properties" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/27).
