Fantasy sports operator DraftKings has raised $300m in its latest funding round led by 21st Century Fox’s Fox Sports, which values the company more than $1.2b.
Under the non-exclusive deal, Fox Sports will provide about $150m for an 11% stake in DraftKings along with other investors including owners of the New England Patriots Kraft Group; Boston financial giant Wellington Management, and venture capital firms Atlas Ventures and the Raine Group to pro sports leagues like the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. Some existing investors also increased their funding including Major League Baseball.
In return, DraftKings will spend more than $250m on ads with Fox Sports over the next three years.
“We were going to spend a lot of money with Fox, anyway, where a lot of live sports content is.” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins. “Fox has heavy coverage sports that we offer competitions in — M.M.A., Nascar, soccer and golf.”