AlphaDraft, a US-based fantasy eSports portal backed by talent agency William Morris Endeavor and media company International Data Group (IDG), was acquired by fantasy sports platform FanDuel for an undisclosed amount on Thursday.
Founded in 2014, AlphaDraft enables users to compete in fantasy eSports and sports tournaments. Players can win cash and other prizes, and create new teams every day rather than committing to a line-up for an entire season.
William Morris Endeavor and IDG Ventures, a fund formed by IDG, participated in a $5m seed round for AlphaDraft in May 2015 that included Metamorphic Ventures, Upfront Ventures, Amplify.LA, KEC Ventures, Freestyle Capital, SK Ventures, Basset Investment Group, Greycroft Partners, Melo7 Tech Partners, Gokul Rajaram and David Stern.
FanDuel’s acquisition of AlphaDraft marks the company’s entry into fantasy eSports. AlphaDraft’s employees will join FanDuel as part of the deal.
Nigel Eccles, CEO of FanDuel, said: “This is sports for a new demographic, with very little crossover with what are considered traditional sports fans, and this acquisition gives us the ability to leverage the expertise of AlphaDraft’s team, while helping their efforts in customer acquisition and building awareness of this new industry.”