Sorare, a major blockchain-based soccer gaming platform, has raised $50 million from high-profile investors backing major companies like Twitter, Instagram and Discord.
The fresh Series A round brings Sorare’s total funding to $60 million, the company told Cointelegraph on Thursday.
The funding round was led by Benchmark, an investment giant famous for funding companies like Twitter, Uber and Snap. Accel Partners was another lead investor, known for backing companies like Facebook and Spotify. The round also included some additional investment from investors like Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk and Barcelona striker Antoine Griezmann.
With the new funding, Sorare is planning to continue growing its ecosystem, including launching a mobile application and onboarding the global top 20 football leagues. “We’re designing an experience where fans can celebrate, share, and live football moments at a deeper connection. We’re making fantasy football a reality,” Sorare said.
Founded in 2018, Sorare provides a digital collectibles platform based on the Ethereum blockchain. With nonfungible tokens, the platform offers a collective fantasy football experience allowing players to manage their players and earn prizes.
Gerard Piqué, strategic advisor at Sorare, explained that the platform aims to meet the significant shift to online and digital fan experiences:
“As world football has shifted from local supporters to global fanbases, football fans are looking for new ways to be connected to the game, the players and other fans.”
Blockchain and cryptocurrency startups have been actively tapping the soccer industry in order to bring new ways of fan engagement using emerging technologies. Socios and Chiliz represent some of the best-known industry efforts, jointly providing blockchain fan tokens for popular global soccer clubs like FC Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. Earlier this week, Polish Legia Warsaw became the latest soccer club to join Chiliz and Socios.