Fantasy football games publisher Sorare has announced that it has raised $680 million in financing that it now intends to use in order to accelerate its growth and expand into other sports around the globe.

Established in 2018, the Paris-headquartered enterprise used an official press release to declare that it already held ‘a leading position in the fast-growing football non-fungible token (NFT) space’ with in excess of 600,000 registered users on a platform that features licensed players from more than 180 soccer enterprises including the likes of Juventus, Liverpool and Real Madrid.

Serious appraisal:

Sorare stated that the new funding has taken its total valuation up to approximately $4.3 billion and will additionally allow it to ‘expand its world-class team by hiring across key roles’ and launch a range of new marketing efforts. The French innovator proclaimed that it is now moreover planning to enter the United States and simultaneously premiere a series of schemes ‘to support sports activities for young people and fund other start-ups in its ecosystem.’

Prominent partners:

Nicolas Julia serves as the Chief Executive Officer for Sorare and he used the press release to disclose that his company’s recent ‘Series B’ funding round was led by Japanese investments firm SoftBank Group Corporation in cooperation with several new investors including D1 Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Atomico. The boss went on to pronounce that the cash will moreover allow the firm to leverage its NFT position ‘to sign up the top 20 football leagues and expand into other sports.’

Read a statement from Julia…

“Sorare’s game is born from our love for football and our expertise in technology. We saw the immense potential that blockchain and NFTs brought to unlock a new way for football clubs, footballers and their fans to experience a deeper connection with each other. We are thrilled by the success we have seen so far but this is just the beginning.”

Appealing enterprise:

For his part and the Chief Operating Officer for SoftBank Group Corporation, Marcelo Claure, described Sorare as sitting ‘at the intersection of two really exciting industries in digital collectibles and fantasy sports.’ The entrepreneur also divulged that the innovator has sold over $150 million in cards so far this year with its aggregated quarterly sales having risen by 51 times in the twelve months to the end of June.

Claure’s statement read…

“It’s evident from its amazing growth this year alone that football fans around the world have been eagerly waiting for the ‘game within the game’ that Sorare provides. We’re pleased to be joining it on this journey and are really excited to see what the company will achieve in its next phase of growth.”