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Bonus TL;DR
- Topdog raised $2.5 million in seed funding to expand its real-time, head-to-head multiplayer sports skill gaming app.
- Early DraftKings and FanDuel investors, along with FanDuel co-founder Nigel Eccles, backed Topdog’s latest financing round.
You can now put money on a head-to-head basketball draft against a stranger instead of a parlay against the sportsbook.
Topdog, a real-money skill-gaming app, announced Wednesday it raised $2.5 million in seed funding to bring on more players and build out its lineup of real-time multiplayer sports games. Boston Seed Capital led the round, with The Raine Group, Bullpen Capital, Versus Ventures, Spoondrift Capital and Permit Ventures also putting money in. The company previously raised $1.6 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $4.1 million.
How does Topdog’s real-money multiplayer game actually work?
Most real-money apps in this category have you play alone and compare your score to someone else’s after the fact. Topdog’s games run in real time. Two players draft, decide, and adjust while the match is happening, the same way an opponent would in any other head-to-head game.
The current lineup includes Basketball Hustle, a multiplayer basketball game built around live drafting and in-match decisions, along with 21 Hustle, Tilt, and Pinfall. The app is available now on the Apple App Store. Topdog’s announcement doesn’t list specific state restrictions, so check the app itself for eligibility before signing up.
There’s no house to beat here.
Just another player, trying just as hard to win.
The money behind Topdog is worth a look too. Boston Seed, The Raine Group and Bullpen Capital all had early stakes in DraftKings and FanDuel. Backers also include FanDuel co-founder Nigel Eccles and gaming industry consultant Dustin Gouker, the company said.
Topdog co-founder Aman Agarwal said the app is built for the hours around the games, not just during them.
“Consumers already expect multiplayer competition everywhere else in gaming,” Agarwal said. “Real money skill-gaming should be no different. We want Topdog to become the place where sports fans and gamers can compete against each other, in real time, whenever they want to play.”
