Sports NFT Platform Stakes raises $5.3 mln for 'digital bragging rights'

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Stakes, a New York-based NFT platform for sports wagering fans, has raised $5.3 million in seed funding from DCG (Digital Currency Group), CMS Holdings, LD Capital, Cadenza Ventures, Matrixport Ventures, Sterling Select Group, and FBG Capital, the company announced on Wednesday. The funds will be used for team expansion in light of the platform witnessing rapid growth in its user base.

The platform said it has tapped into research that suggests that people who play fantasy sports value the social experience more than monetary opportunities. “Our whole thesis is that most sports fans are not going to become like degenerate, hardcore gamblers. And so we wanted to create a more social experience,” Kevin Wang, CEO of Stakes, said, “Digital sports betting increasingly feels like math homework–devoid of the emotion, energy and sense of community that motivates fans, especially this new generation of sports lovers.” 

Wang continued to elaborate on the ultimate goal of the Stakes platform, “Our mission is to bring people together through sports and community with an engaging, digital experience that is so much more than a spreadsheet of numbers.”

Stakes is a web3-based free-to-play sports betting platform that seeks to build a social wagering experience for its fans via NFTs. It combines social media, crypto, and gaming, offering fans friendly competition and knowledge show-off as they earn digital bragging rights via NFTs. It is available in the Apple App store in its open beta version.  

Users can make predictions on the outcomes of the matches. These predictions are publicly available for friends and other users to wager on. The winning pick is minted as an NFT. These NFTs become the platform’s ‘digital bragging rights’ that aren’t tied to any real currency but are backed by virtual coins.