Daily fantasy pushes to continue growth streak

By Eric Fisher

After more than 60 years in existence, fantasy sports has seen its foundation dramatically altered by a younger sibling.

The family newcomer — daily fantasy — is fun, popular and easy to get along with, and has quickly become a favorite child. But many wonder if the charm of youth will endure. So daily fantasy operators are acting aggressively to ensure that last year’s mainstream arrival was just the beginning.

Few business advancements have had as much effect on an industry as daily fantasy has over the past year, and the early signs of 2015 show no slowdown.

Boston-based DraftKings, one of two major daily fantasy game operators, is actively developing a Series D venture capital round that would exceed $100 million and value the company in the neighborhood of $1 billion, executives there said. A closing is expected sometime this spring.

New York-based FanDuel, DraftKings’ key rival, is said to be mulling a similar major fundraising move, industry sources said. This comes after both companies received significant funding rounds just last summer, worth a collective $111 million, that catapulted them into prominence.

Those prior funding rounds — $70 million for FanDuel and $41 million for Draft-Kings — nearly eclipsed the entire history of venture money in fantasy sports up to that point, and involved major entities such as New York investment bank The Raine Group and NBC Sports Ventures…..