The archive · Consumer Apps · Strategic decision · 2018–2021
Sorare: $680M at $4.3B to make NFT fantasy football a global sports giant
Paris startup Sorare sells officially licensed player cards as NFTs; SoftBank led a $680M round at a $4.3B valuation in Sept 2021.
Sorare
What the business is
A fantasy football platform where every player card is an NFT on Ethereum: clubs license their rights, Sorare issues new cards, and users build squads that earn points from real-life performances.
How it started
Founded in 2018 in Paris, Sorare grew from co-founder and CEO Nicolas Julia's belief that blockchain and NFTs could give football fans a deeper connection to clubs and players.
What happened
In September 2021, SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 led a $680M Series B at a $4.3B valuation. First-time investors Atomico, Bessemer Ventures, D1 Capital, Eurazeo, IVP and Liontree joined existing backers Benchmark, Accel and Headline. At the time Sorare had 600,000 registered users and 150,000 monthly card buyers or team builders, and $150M of cards had been traded since January. The company earns by issuing new cards rather than taking a cut of player-to-player trades.
How it ended up
Still expanding as of the announcement: Sorare said it would use the capital to enter new sports, open its first US office, hire and run marketing campaigns with clubs and athletes.
Background
Sorare's bet in 2021 was that blockchain scarcity could turn football fandom into a market. The Paris startup, founded in 2018, sells digital player cards as NFTs on Ethereum: each card is a unique token, clubs license their rights, and fans build squads that earn points from real-life performances. Owning a card of a superstar is both a collectible and a way to play fantasy football.
The bet found a bull market. Between Q2 2020 and Q2 2021, monthly active paying users grew 34x and quarterly card sales grew 51x; by September 2021 Sorare counted 600,000 registered users and $150M of cards traded since January. Licenses with more than 180 football organizations — Real Madrid, Liverpool and Juventus among them — gave it a catalog no software clone could assemble quickly.
On September 20, 2021, SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 led a $680M Series B valuing Sorare at $4.3B. Atomico, Bessemer Ventures, D1 Capital, Eurazeo, IVP and Liontree joined existing investors Benchmark, Accel and Headline. The revenue model was deliberately simple: Sorare earns by issuing new cards, not by taking a cut of player-to-player trades.
What has to be true
- Licensed scarcity: official deals with 180 football organizations, including Real Madrid, Liverpool and Juventus, created a barrier to entry no software clone could code around.
- Fantasy meets ownership: tying card value to real player performances made collecting and playing the same activity.
- NFT on-ramp: with fantasy sports as the hook, Sorare introduced mainstream football fans to crypto ownership without asking them to think in crypto terms.
- Proof in the numbers: 51x quarterly sales growth and 34x monthly paying-user growth gave investors a hockey stick to price.
What can be applied
Licenses, not code, were Sorare's moat: 180 club deals rivals could not copy. Yet a business whose value rests on card resale prices inherits the volatility of the hype cycle underneath it.
Aftermath
As of the September 2021 announcement the company remained football-first, but the capital was earmarked for expansion: new sports, a first US office, hiring, and marketing campaigns with clubs and athletes. SoftBank's Marcelo Claure framed the round as a bet on digital collectibles meeting fantasy sports, and CEO Nicolas Julia called the goal building the next sports entertainment giant.
Sources
- Sorare raises $680 million for its fantasy sports NFT game
- Fantasy soccer NFT platform Sorare scores $680 million raise led by SoftBank
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