Fantasy Life, the brainchild of renowned fantasy football analyst Matthew Berry, has successfully closed a $7 million funding round aimed at accelerating its evolution from a content brand into a dynamic technology and gaming platform. The investment will drive the rollout of FantasyHQ—a new centralized hub for fantasy sports tools—and bolster the company’s recent acquisition of Guillotine Leagues, an innovative spin on traditional fantasy football.

The latest financing round was spearheaded by LRMR Ventures, the investment firm helmed by NBA superstar LeBron James and business partner Maverick Carter, alongside SC Holdings, led by Jason Stein. Other prominent investors include Jacksonville Jaguars owner Tony Khan, Grammy-winning musician John Legend, YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, and NFL legends like Larry Fitzgerald. Several of these figures—such as Roger Ehrenberg and David Blitzer—were returning participants from Fantasy Life’s prior $2 million seed round in 2023.

Maverick Carter expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, according to Business Insider, stating, “We’re always looking for opportunities to invest in smart, creative people and businesses that share our values. What Matthew, Eliot and the team are building with Fantasy Life hits on everything we look for.”

Fantasy Life has also garnered support from NFL stars such as Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Austin Ekeler, who not only invested in the brand but are also expected to participate in future promotions.

FantasyHQ: A New Frontier in Fantasy Tools

The newly unveiled FantasyHQ, developed with Mike’s Hard Lemonade as its presenting sponsor, is designed to be a personalized platform for fantasy players of all levels. It allows users to sync their rosters across different fantasy platforms while offering real-time data, lineup advice, and projections. The feature-rich platform also provides interactive tools to optimize performance throughout the NFL season.

“We have this product, Fantasy HQ, which we think is going to be, no pressure, the greatest fantasy tool ever created,” said Berry according to Sports Business Journal. He emphasized that the brand alignment with Mike’s Hard Lemonade—known for its unconventional approach—resonates with Fantasy Life’s own disruptive positioning in the fantasy sports world.

Reinventing Fantasy Football with Guillotine Leagues

Fantasy Life’s acquisition and full integration of Guillotine Leagues marks a bold step in transforming the traditional fantasy experience. Unlike standard leagues where teams compete weekly and accumulate points over the season, Guillotine Leagues adopt a high-stakes survival format. Each week, the lowest-scoring team is eliminated, and its players are released into a free-agent pool, radically reshaping league dynamics.

Berry, a former ESPN analyst and current face of NBC’s Football Night in America, said the format’s intensity won him over immediately. “I literally was like, I love this game so much I bought the company,” he noted.

The strategic value of hosting its own game is not lost on the company. “It allows us to monetize our audience in a different way,” Berry explained. “We move from what we were, which is a media and content company, but now we have a game platform that has brand new tech that can scale to different sports, different formats.”

Building a Complete Fantasy Ecosystem

Since its founding in 2020, Fantasy Life has grown from a newsletter into a full-scale media operation. With Eliot Crist as CEO, the company now operates a content-rich website, SiriusXM programming, podcasts, a FAST channel on LG, and syndicated shows on Roku and Fubo. It has become NBC Sports’ official fantasy tools partner, extending its influence in both fantasy and sports betting circles.

Through collaborations with partners like DraftKings, Bud Light, Verizon, and Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Fantasy Life says its content has reached more than 112 million households. A major part of its business model focuses on converting users of its free content into subscribers of premium tools and its gaming platform.

Context: DFS Under Legal Scrutiny in California

While Fantasy Life is surging, the broader fantasy sports industry faces uncertainty in California. The state’s Attorney General, Rob Bonta, recently issued an opinion stating that daily fantasy sports contests constitute illegal sports betting under state law. However, this has not stopped major DFS operators like FanDuel and DraftKings from continuing to operate in what remains a legal gray area.

Despite the regulatory challenges in certain states, Berry and his team are pressing forward. “My entire adult life has been about helping fantasy players and sports gamers win, have more fun, and make this industry better,” he said. “Fantasy Life is the culmination of my decades of experience — a destination for every kind of player, from beginner to sharp.”