A big week for micro-betting company Simplebet just got bigger. Through their Venture Capital Fund — “Anti Fund” lead by Geoffrey Woo and Jake Paul — have made a significant investment in Simplebet. Jake Paul is well known as a media mogul, celebrity boxer, and now a sports betting investor. Simplebet had already received $50 million in investment from prominent investors like David Blitzer, Andre Agassi, and the San Francisco Giants MLB team.
Simplebet is getting bigger seemingly by the day. They recently announced a groundbreaking live-betting expansion deal with DraftKings Sportsbook. Simplebet produces live-betting opportunities that will now be hosted on DraftKings. They have a different take on how live sports betting works. Rather than placing your traditional moneyline and total bets, Simplebet gives you the chance to bet on smaller events. These include at-bats in baseball, plays in football, and many more.
The investment from Jake Paul is nearly double what they had raised prior. The nearly 40% increase comes during fight week of one of the biggest boxing events of the year. Jake Paul is boxing former UFC champion Tyron Woodley this weekend. The fight is expected to draw over one million PPV buys across the country. Paul’s last PPV event against Ben Askren accrued over 1.5 million buys across the United States.
Importantly, this pay-per-view is going to be hosted by Showtime. The expectation is that this PPV event gains more viewers and more revenue than any of the preceding ones.
Simplebet And Jake Paul In An Unlikely Business Partnership
It is unclear at this time what evaluation Jake Paul and his fund are purchasing. However, it is not without some serious fanfare given his current media power. Simplebet is going through a rapid growth period. When I spoke to Simplebet CEO Chris Bevilacqua, he was not shy about making bold claims on the micro-betting industry that he is helping spearhead.
Chris went on to say that he expects around 50% of all bets made to be live micro-bets. In order for that claim to be a reality, there must be capital to back the growth. This round investment is surely the next step in that reality.
Furthermore, after the announcement of Paul’s investment in Simplebet, Chris Bevilacqua said, “In a world where capital is increasingly becoming a commodity, it was important to us that our next capital partner play a direct role in accelerating revenue and distribution. We couldn’t be more excited to work with Jake, Geoffrey, Nakisa, and the entire Anti Fund team who will support our efforts to accelerate the mainstream adoption of micro-betting across the U.S.”
Bringing in a media superstar like Jake Paul can only help the distribution of their product across the country. Simplebet’s growth has now hit a rapid pace. Money is coming in from tech millionaires and more.
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