Companies that let you make (or lose) money on sports, take out a loan or get tickets for events — all from your phone — raised significant funding rounds this week. Here’s what happened:
Capital Gains: Online Lending, Fantasy Sports and More Funding News
The latest unicorn on the block: The fantasy sports service FanDuel.
Todd Bernard
- Fantasy sports service FanDuel raised $275 million at a $1 billion-plus valuation, in a round led by KKR with participation from new investors Google Capital and Time Warner Investments with Turner Sports. The company recently hired all of Zynga’s previous sports gaming employees, and plans to add 40 to 50 more people by 2016.
- CrowdStrike, a cyber security firm specializing in cloud-based technologies, landed a $100 million investment led by Google Capital. Accel Partners, Walter Pincus and other investors contributed to the round (New York Times).
- Ticket vendor Ticketfly raised a $50 million Series D led by Riverwood Capital, giving it $85 million in total funding. Existing investors include SAP Ventures, Northgate Capital, Cross Creek Capital and Mohr Davidow Ventures (Billboard).
- Startups like Affirm or initiatives from Goldman Sachs indicate that the online lending space is heating up. The latest player is Upstart, which raised $35 million from lead investor Third Point Ventures, and Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital and Collaborative Fund. The company has raised $42.7 million in total (Silicon Valley Business Journal).
- Blue Apron competitor Plated raised $35 million in a Series B funding round, giving it $56.4 million in funding to date. Investors in the round include Greycroft Partners and Formation 8 (TechCrunch).
- Bkstg, a digital hub for musicians to reach their fans led by a former AOL exec, raised $20 million from a group of investors that include Global Group, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Mark Cuban Companies, Gordy Crawford, Scooter Braun Project and Live Nation.
- StellaService, which makes software for companies to help them monitor customer service, raised $15 million in a round led by Comcast Ventures, with participation from investors Toba Capital and Novel TMT.
- Singaporean startup Fastacash, which sounds a lot like Venmo but aimed specifically at Asian markets, raised a $15 million Series B led by Rising Dragon Singapore, with additional investment from Life.Sreda and UVM 2 Venture Investments (Tech in Asia).
- Balboa Capital, a private investment firm that makes loans to smaller businesses for capital equipment, finished a $230 million securitization (they turned illiquid assets into liquid ones) so it can ramp up investment (Monitor Daily).
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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