Derby Games Ups The Ante With $6.5 Million In Funding For Real Money Gaming
Bullpen Capital Leads Series A Financing for Expansion of Online Social Games
NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Derby Games, the fastest growing legal online gambling company, has raised $6.5 million in financing led by Bullpen Capital and with participation from angels Martin Lautman, partner at Muskateer Capital, and Bill Pescatello, partner at LightBank. Existing investors also participated, including Andlinger & Company and Alexis Ohanian. Coinciding with the new capitalization, Bullpen Capital founder and managing director Paul Martino joins the board of directors.
With additional funding and resources, the company will continue to develop new real money gaming (RMG) experiences, building on the success of DerbyJackpot, its first game focused on horse racing. The company will also expand its mobile offerings. To support this growth, Derby Games will hire top talent in engineering, marketing and other areas of operation.
"With a platform that is legal and regulated for 80% of American adults, Derby Games is in a perfect position to win in online gambling," said Tom Hessert, CEO and co-founder, Derby Games. "This funding and the support of great investors like Paul Martino, Alexis Ohanian and Gerry Andlinger will help us to grow even faster, identify new opportunities and execute on our mission to build the largest community of real money gamers in the U.S."
The company has consistently led innovation in real money gaming online, starting with its breakthrough game, DerbyJackpot, which is the easiest way to watch and bet on live horse races from over 100 tracks across the United States. Eligible players can place real money bets on the tracks and interact with other players from the comfort of their homes. Since it launched in 2013, hundreds of thousands of people have joined in on the fun, watched live races, socialized with other players, placed bets and won jackpots over $10,000. Over 75% of DerbyJackpot players had never previously bet on a horse race. The company processes $20 million in bets a year, and expects to more than double its run rate in 2015.
Derby Games' board of directors and advisory board include a wealth of talent from technology, business and RMG, including:
- Paul Martino, co-founder and managing director of Bullpen Capital. Martino has invested in Zynga, TubeMogul, uDemy, and PayNearMe, and is a board member of FanDuel, the leader in daily fantasy sports.
- Gerry Andlinger is the founder and current chairman of the private equity firm Andlinger and Co. He also serves on the Advisory Board for The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University.
- Steven Levitt, special advisor to Derby Games, is a renowned American economist and the co-author of New York Times bestseller, Freakonomics. He was chosen as one of TIME magazine's "100 People Who Shape Our World" in 2006.
"We are very excited about Derby Games, the most popular regulated RMG social platform in the U.S." said Paul Martino, co-founder and managing director, Bullpen Capital. "Their entertaining games and opportunities to win real money are very compelling to a completely new generation of gamers, most of whom have never before bet on horses. The gameplay is fantastic and the potential is huge."
About Derby Games
Derby Games (www.DerbyGames.com) is a leading real money gaming (RMG) platform that makes it easy for players from around the country to place bets and win. By turning gambling into an online social game, anyone can participate. Derby Games is driven by the mission to create the largest community of real money gamers in the U.S.
Derby Games is a pari-mutuel Advanced Deposit Wagering (ADW) service, providing legal, secure and user-friendly online account wagering, powered by Xpressbet, through Xpressbet's fully licensed Multi-Jurisdictional Account Wagering Hub in the State of Oregon.
DerbyJackpot offers hundreds of races nearly every day of the year, with bets starting at ten cents for possible winnings of $10,000 or more. Adults over the age of 18 years old (21 in certain states) can legally play Derby Games in 37 states in the United States.
The New York based company founded in 2011 is backed by institutional funds Bullpen Capital and Andlinger & Company, as well as angels Alexis Ohanian, Muskateer Capital partner Martin Lautman, LightBank Partner Bill Pescatello, and High Peaks Venture Partners general partner Ben Sun.
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SOURCE Derby Games
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