A new app, a media brand, and an innovative sports betting experience powered by machine learning and automation technology is coming soon to a smartphone near you.
On Monday, social media star and pro boxer Jake Paul and sports betting entrepreneur Joey Levy have announced the creation of Betr, a micro-betting and media company. The pair won’t be lacking for funds as the venture sets sail, as they have additionally raised $50 million as part of a Series A funding round. The long list of participating investors includes Travis Scott, Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant, Richard Sherman, 305 Ventures, and co-owners of the San Francisco 49ers, Boston Celtics, and Miami Marlins.
Betr closed another $30 million Series A round earlier this year led by Florida Funders.
“I wasn’t into sports betting until I was introduced to micro-betting,” said Paul, officially Founder and President of Betr, in a company release. “Micro-betting is the TikTok-ification of sports betting and I am excited to bring it to the masses through Betr. We are in this for the long haul and are focused on doing things the right way. We are getting licensed state-by-state, adhering to each state’s regulatory framework while advocating for important consumer protections and responsible gambling.”
Betr has plans to grow as a media brand as well, with Paul kicking things off Monday with a preview of his new show, BS w/ Jake Paul. The show will feature the prolific personality and his celebrity friends taking fans on a journey across the landscape of both sports and sports betting. The company has a stated goal of building the show into one of the most-viewed and highest-engaged sports shows on the digital/streaming market.
In addition to generating brand awareness and affinity for the Betr brand, the media arm will generate revenue independently for Betr. Currently, the company evaluating sponsorship opportunities for BS w/ Jake Paul and other content initiatives to be announced in the future.
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On the betting side, Betr is aiming to introduce a new style of betting by opening up wagering opportunities on the most specific moments that drive US sports consumption, including pitches and at-bats in baseball and individual drives in football games.
Paul’s co-founder, Betr CEO Joey Levy, is additionally the co-founder of Simplebet, a B2B technology company that has helped to pioneered micro-betting in US sports through its innovations in the realms of machine learning and automation. Betr will leverage Simplebet’s existing technology as it scales, and will release an app in the weeks to come. A release notes that the app will launch as free-to-play in all 50 US states. Betr has gambling market access in multiple US states as of this time; specific announcements are expected in the near future.
“The combination of our best-in-class technology together with the reimagined user experience, reach, and influence of Betr’s distribution channels will be a powerful force in the market,” said Simplebet CEO Chris Bevilacqua on the occasion. “This partnership features many of the best elements of the rapidly increasing convergence of sports, media, and technology and we are excited to be in the center of it.”
Continues Levy:
“Betr will unbundle micro-betting by building an entire company around it and delivering the experience in a simple, intuitive UI layer. We believe micro-betting will ultimately emerge as the predominant way consumers bet on U.S. sports, given (1) the stop and start cadence of U.S. sports lending itself perfectly to this style of wagering, and (2) similarly to how daily fantasy sports innovated on top of season-long fantasy, micro-betting introduces an order of magnitude greater level of instant gratification to the current sports betting user experience.”
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