Sorare’s Series A round was led by Benchmark.

Sorare is a fantasy game of soccer, where players buy, sell, trade, and manage a virtual team with digital player cards. The game is based on the Ethereum blockchain technology. Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort started Sorare in 2018 and today announced their $50 million Series A raise in a Medium post.

Led by Benchmark, Sorare’s round also received participation from Accel and additional investment from renowned investors. These included Antoine Griezmann, Rio Ferdinand, Oliver Bierhoff, Alexis Ohanian, and Gary Vaynerchuck.

Benchmark has backed companies such as  Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), Uber (NYSE: UBER), and Snap (NYSE: SNAP), while Accel invested in Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Spotify (NYSE: SPOT). Alexis Ohanian is a Reddit co-founder, and Antoine Griezmann is a Barcelona striker.

According to Ledger Insight, Sorare raised about $500,000 in a pre-seed round in May 2019. The round included Ethereum development house ConsenSys. In July 2020, the startup raised $10 million in a seed round led by e.ventures.

Use of funds

Sorare will use the latest funds to develop a mobile app and onboard the top 20 football leagues in the world on its platform.

Sorare has already signed 126 soccer clubs, including big names such as Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Juventus.

The founders said in a statement: “These funds will serve to delight our current and future community. Clubs, footballers, and fans are at the heart of the game. 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.”

Super growth

In January 2020, Sorare sold $60,000 of its non-fungible, collectible cards. That vaulted to $4.2 million a year later in January 2021, representing a volume growth of 52% per month.

The startup is already profitable.

“For the first time in human history a digital collectible holds a utility and can be used in a wide field of applications to attract soccer fanatics, collectors, and investors alike,” said Christian Miele, Partner at e.ventures. “This is why Sorare is best positioned to create one of the largest next-generation entertainment companies in the world.”

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Image Credit: Sorare