FanDuel on Thursday announced the acquisition of California-based fantasy eSports company AlphaDraft, continuing a recent string of sports industry investments into competitive video gaming. FanDuel will incorporate AlphaDraft’s games into its own platform and begin offering eSports products for the first time. AlphaDraft earlier this year closed on a $5M seed round of venture capital funding, with investors including former NBA Commissioner David Stern and Knicks F Carmelo Anthony. Financial terms were not disclosed (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer). RE/CODE's Kurt Wagner cited sources as saying that AlphaDraft "was apparently shopping itself around and asking for as much as" $25M, but FanDuel "purchased it for less." Although AlphaDraft does not reveal the size of its user base, CEO Todd Peterson in May said that he "was hopeful the company would reach one million users by the end of the year." While DraftKings "is building fantasy eSports into its core product offering, AlphaDraft will remain operational and serve as FanDuel’s eSports arm." The two entities "will be separate, but under the FanDuel umbrella" (RECODE.net, 9/24). In L.A., David Pierson notes DraftKings on Wednesday announced that it would include competitive video gaming in its betting lineup. The moves by FanDuel and DraftKings "underscore the growing allure of eSports, which has filled arenas and made a splashy return to television." Game-industry consulting firm SuperData Research said that eSports is now a $612M global market "with 134 million fans and growing" (L.A. TIMES, 9/25).
