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Sports betting innovator launches brand-new start-up
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17 November 2021
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By Douglas Fraser
Business and economy editor, Scotland
One of Scotland's most successful technology groups is starting once again with a new company - and has secured the most significant preliminary financial investment of any British start-up business.
BetDEX is being led by Nigel Eccles, who co-founded dream sports betting website FanDuel in 2009 in Edinburgh.
The new firm has seed financing of $21m.
It aims to launch a brand-new open source software platform, on which others can innovate in sports betting wagering, in the first half of next year.
The company is recruiting staff from a base in Scotland.
FanDuel was offered to Flutter - previously named Paddy Power Betfair - in 2018 and is now worth more than $30bn.
However, Mr Eccles and other co-founders are in with FanDuel's later phase investors over the method which they structured a takeover, which left the Edinburgh team without a share of the rising appraisal.
Mr Eccles said that a person thing he learned from the FanDuel experience was to pick financiers carefully.
He informed BBC Scotland: "We took a great deal of lessons from that, among which was the importance of who we select as investors in this new company, to ensure their worths are aligned with ours, that they take their fiduciary responsibilities responsibly, which they're the right partners for us."
The $21m seed funding for BetDEX includes stakes taken by seven backers of US innovation firms, consisting of 2 big funds - Paradigm and FTX - which specialise in purchasing companies running with crypto-currencies.
Varun Sudhakar, president of BetDEX, said: "The sports betting market charges high prices for poor items and limitations trades by its most effective users.
"BetDEX is diametrically opposed to this technique. We will effectively complete versus incumbents with a noticeably superior product and low costs, which is now possible with the advent of the blockchain innovation."
As chairman of the brand-new company, Mr Eccles said it could look familiar to retail punters utilized to existing online companies.
'Pool of skill'
However, he says that those who use its platform to run their own sports betting firms will be able to innovate and produce a wider range of sports betting items.
He stated the typical share taken by online bookies is 7% to 10% of a stake, however BetDEX must allow for that to fall listed below 1%.
The business will develop its own wagering apps to operate on the platform.
Mr Eccles stated these would take an "intelligent, thoughtful" approach to the way they are marketed to safeguard those who have problem with issue gambling.
He stated the team of around 500 software engineers who helped develop FanDuel from Scotland showed that it remains the location to construct a company. BetDEX has the exact same head of technology, Stuart Tonner.
"A lot of that [FanDuel] success was constructed on a highly experienced, very skilled engineering team, that constructed this item that could process countless bets and millions of users.
"There's a genuine skill swimming pool of skilled engineers who helped us develop our item and that's what we wish to take advantage of for BetDEX too."
Related topics
Edinburgh
sports betting wagering
More on this story
Paddy Power purchases fantasy sports betting site
23 May 2018
FanDuel founder leaves company
Published
20 November 2017
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Sports Betting Innovator Launches Brand-new Start-up
Amber Hudson edited this page 2025-01-04 23:25:47 +08:00