Basketball Forever Secures $4 Million in Series A Funding on Heels of North American Launch The company plans to use the capital to facilitate its North American expansion and invest in accelerated product growth
New York
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March 20, 2024 08:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Basketball Forever, one of the fastest growing and most engaged independent sports content brands in the world, announced a Series A funding totaling over $4 million USD. The round was led by Yolo Investments and also included Astralis Capital Management, Andover Ventures, Seth Young of FSG Digital and GMA Consulting, former Pinnacle Sports CEO and current betting and gaming advisor Paris Smith, David Sargeant of iGaming Ideas, Chris Grove of Acies Investments and Benjie Cherniak of Avenue H Capital. Having recently established a North American office, Basketball Forever plans to use the funds to accelerate growth by increasing its efforts to acquire a bigger audience in the region, expand into other verticals beyond basketball and deepen its roster of free and real money games.
“This investment from so many leaders and well-respected voices in the sports betting and gaming space is illuminating,” said Alex Sumsky, CEO and co-founder of Forever Network. “It shows that not only is Basketball Network going down the path of profitability as a media company, but that expanding into sports betting and daily fantasy is the right move. Gamifying the sport media experience is the future. This capital will help us explore that vertical more, grow our North American staff and invest time in making our user experience the best on the market.”
Since it operates each game, Basketball Forever can seamlessly weave marketing collateral and calls to action into content across its website and social media, offering an unappareled second screen offering. This creates a genuine experience for its users, helping establish a community that continuously comes back for more. This was proved during NBA All-Star Weekend when Basketball Forever launched its first North American focused game Hot Hands, a live action, free-to-play bingo-style game. The game saw more than 10,000 users claim more than 35,000 squares on the first offering of the game. Basketball Forever’s stable of games also includes free-to-play games V.O.A.T. and Streaker, with real-money versions of the games on the horizon.
“It’s impossible to ignore what Basketball Forever has done to build a massively engaged audience,” said Tim Heath, Founder and General Partner at Yolo Investments. “Their ability to then create a bridge between its users and the games it creates is invaluable. We feel like Basketball Forever’s continued venture into sports betting in the North American market will establish them as not just leaders in the space, but as a model for other media companies to follow for years to come.”
Founded in 2015, Basketball Forever is a digital media platform creating news and content on the global basketball market. For more than a decade, the company has built its brand organically from Australia, amassing a monthly global audience of more than 110 million unique visitors. According to Comscore’s Shareablee score, Basketball Forever is the most engaged sports publisher amongst millennials. Previously, all of its partners, sponsors and development efforts focused on the Australian market, even though the platform reaches 45 million unique visitors per month from the United States alone. In 2023, the company drew 4 billion impressions across all its social channels.
ABOUT BASKETBALL FOREVER
Basketball Forever was founded in 2015 with a mission to celebrate the game and embrace its ability to unite people from all over the world. The brand reaches millions globally as the best source of breaking news, commentary, rumors, and culture through a uniquely social-first approach, bringing the best content to the consumer and removing the barriers between the creative and the consumer.
For more information and to subscribe, please visit: ForeverNetwork.com
Contact Details
Sterling Randle
+1 801-319-6153
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